When did you realize who your son or daughter really was?
I realized it when he was 7 or 8. We were having dinner, and as usual, I asked how school went. He looked a little troubled and said that the teacher asked the class what “manifest destiny” meant. He raised his hand and was called on. He said, “Isn’t it just an excuse to kill Indians?”
I was shocked. I asked him, “Did you really say that?”
“Yes, Papa,” he said.
“And what did the teacher say?”
“Not really.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think it is.”
That’s when I knew I was raising a critical thinker with strong values.
Now, he will be 33 next month. He graduated from Harvard Law School and is one of the top attorneys in the US Navy JAG Corps.
I was proud then, and I’m proud now.