What drives who we are? Is it nature? Nurture? Some combination of the two? Random chance? We may never know the answer to what makes us who we are.
I grew up in a household with 3 children. 2 of use turned out atheists, and 2 of us turned out to be Republicans—one of them even went so far as to become a trump-supporting fascist who nods and winks his racism.
Parents often sadly have no say over the course their children’s lives take.
Such is the case with a man named Pearce Tefft, who publicly disowned his son for becoming a neo-nazi and for traveling to Charlottesville, Virginia to take part in some good ol’ right-wing skull-bashing this past weekend.
You can read Mr. Tefft’s letter here, but here are a couple of highlights:
- On Friday night, my son traveled to Charlottesville, Va., and was interviewed by a national news outlet while marching with reported white nationalists, who allegedly went on to kill a person.
- Peter Tefft, my son, is not welcome at our family gatherings any longer. I pray my prodigal son will renounce his hateful beliefs and return home. Then and only then will I lay out the feast.
- It was the silence of good people that allowed the Nazis to flourish the first time around, and it is the silence of good people that is allowing them to flourish now.
- He once joked, “The thing about us fascists is, it’s not that we don’t believe in freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want. We’ll just throw you in an oven.”
- Peter, you will have to shovel our bodies into the oven, too. Please son, renounce the hate, accept and love all.
This could not have been an easy decision for Tefft and his family to make. The love a parent has for a child is strong, and history is filled with stories of parents who have done superhuman things for their children, but sometimes, the best thing a parent can do to save their child is to reject the hatred displayed by the child.
The same goes for children who reject the hatred of their parents. The ties that bind a family together should not be shackles.
Here’s your trump picture:
