A friend of mine who will become a father a few weeks hence posted on Facebook about the horror of what just happened in Nice, France and expressed concern over bringing a new baby into a world such as this. I commented on his post. For whatever it's worth, here is part of what I wrote:
Becoming a parent forever changes you -- makes you painfully aware of the terrors and dangers that this world holds. For the first time in your life, a large part of you -- your heart, your soul -- is now running around outside of your body. And you want to wrap the little tyke up in your arms, and create a cocoon that will shield him or her from all of the violence, the hatred, the mayhem.
One day a baby arrives, and in the blink of an eye concern for your own self-preservation plummets waaay down your list of priorities. All that matters is the safety and well-being of that tiny little person. And you'd do whatever you have to in order to preserve their innocence and keep them safe.
And it's not just from the big scary things, either. One day you find yourself trying to protect your eight-year-old daughter from bullies in her second grade class. And even though you never stood up for yourself a day in your life, you stand up for your daughter and fight for her with a dogged determination that completely bewilders her teacher. And you do not back down.
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