Dear Dad
Tupac Shakur once said in Dear Mama:
“You passed away and I didn’t cry, ’cause my anger wouldn’t let me feel for a stranger.”
Dear Dad,
You have a child growing up without knowing you...
You also have a child who has grown up without you.
You may never fully know what your absence has shaped, fractured, or silenced in the life of your child.
Growing up, I had a relative who knew his father. His father walked out of his life to go work and never came back. I saw his father more than he did. Watching that, I considered myself lucky. I didn’t have a father; mine was late. Lucky, I thought, because I know my father had no choice in his absence.
That belief mattered. It softened the pain. I grew up knowing that my father did not reject me.
But absence, chosen or not still leaves a mark.
Dear Dad is a platform where people share their experiences of growing up without their fathers. It is not meant to shame men or tear them down. It exists to show us, honestly and without filters, what our silence, distance, and absence can result in.
This is an invitation.
If you are a father reading this, read with an open heart. Sit with the stories. And if you can, reach out to your child or your children. Presence still matters. Even late. Even imperfect.
Dads, we can do better.
That is the vision of Dear Dad.
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