Being a good responsible father should not be something out of the ordinary in a country of "democracy, love and peace". Yet, it is.
Democracy, love and peace is just the facade, the aereal view.
Beneath it, when you get closer, lies the foul truth, like a footnote; a clarifying afterthought.
In time, you learn to read everything as the exact opposite. The bigger the letters, the bigger the lie.
It is not ordinary business to be a responsible father in a country of oppresion, hatred, constant confrontation, privations, uncertainty and fear. It is hard to look at your children in the eyes and promise them that everything will be ok, that you will always be there, that they can be anything they want to be and do anything they dream of doing.
We face a brutal dilema: if we want to be there for them, we may have to recur to cowardly survival strategies that will keep us away from any activity that might compromise our physical integrity. However, by struggling for survival or self-preservation, we contribute to the perpetuation of everything that compromises our own children's future and survival.
We keep working on it, though, in out of the ordinary ways. We hope for the best and brace for the worst, hoping that none of our children will be a footnote on a history of infamous colorful lies.
This was my entry to 
