A Father's Love

Miranda, 2006

Not that long ago, Donald Trump said, "If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her".  There are those who interpret that statement to mean that he has "sexual fantasies" about her.  Perhaps not everyone will understand; perhaps it is something that only a devoted father can understand.  Nonetheless, I will attempt to dispel that notion.

My daughter Miranda is stunningly beautiful.  She could have been a super-model and still could be, even as she approaches 40 years of age.

I admire, respect and revere her like no other woman.  She is a woman of character.  She is a woman of conviction.  She is a woman of inner strength.  She is a woman of self-sacrifice, putting the needs of others ahead of her own.

She raised my grandson, Brandon with little help and raised him to be a man of character, kindness and strength.  He is now at university, a psychology major; wise and mature beyond his years because of her upbringing.

Before Brandon became a teenager, Miranda took one of her younger sisters into her home when she desperately needed help.  She took her niece, Jazzie into her home when Jazzie’s mother could not care for her.

Barely thirty years old, if that; a single mom with a full time job that provided only a limited means, she took upon herself the burden and responsibility of caring for two other members of her family.  She did so without hesitation.  She did so un-begrudgingly.  She did so because of her inner character and strength; her conviction that it was the right and only thing to do.  She did all this at great personal sacrifice.

Were I not her father, would I date, Miranda?  Yes, I would.  It has nothing to do with sex. Period.  It has to do with the fact that she possesses the finest of human qualities; the kind of qualities that any human being would want in his or her lifetime partner, the kind of qualities that are oh-so-hard to find.  The kind of qualities I myself lack.

While Donald and his daughter’s life differ greatly from that of mine and my daughter’s, we do share in common our humanity.  I love and admire my daughter more and in a way that I cannot, and have not, loved and admired any other woman.  And while he expressed his love for his daughter in a manner somewhat less than eloquent, I sense he feels for his daughter in the same way that I feel for mine; as only a father can.

I've another daughter whom I love as well, but she is not willing to accept it.