The Good Father

by Noah Hawley

There is a moment for each and every one of us in this life where we discover, often to our great surprise, whether we are wolves or sheep. To be a sheep is to surrender to fear. But there is fear, too, for the wolf. Fear when we realize that the rules of society do not apply to us. Rules are for sheep. And this moment of realization is terrifying in its liberation.

Familial bonds are not created through the transfer of information. They are forged through experience over time. They are the sum of Potty Training times Sick Days, of Nights Spent Sleeping in the Same Bed times Knee Scrapes Kissed in Playgrounds. The intimacy of parents and children is not based on data as much as it is on proximity.

There are things in this world that no human being should be able to endure. We should die of heartbreak, but we do not. Instead, we are forced to survive, to bear witness.