Thank you for giving a shit and reminding me what a real father looks like.

By society’s standards you are the least qualified human beings to ever enter parenthood. You’re irresponsible, you’re immature, you’re never home and you look ridiculous with your leopard print hair. Your entire youth has been spent fighting against the authority that you have now become.

Which is what makes you the most qualified person to ever raise a child.

You get the pain and the angst that kids go through. You understand the toll that a broken home can play on the life a child. You understand, more than most, the sacrifice that is involved in keeping a family together. You choose to be present in the moments that you are physically there because you know that those moments can be few and far between.

For those of us dads who are physically there most of the time but absent nonetheless, there is a lot that we can learn from you.

Your language may be foul. Your antics may not win you father of the year. But you have given a voice to entire generation and now you are raising the next one. You will do well and the world will change because of it.

‎Maybe the way we change the world is by raising better kids and being more attentive to those kids. Instead of writing a punk rock song maybe we just need to be better parents. I want to be around my kids, I want to be there when they want me to be there. I think that’s the punkest thing of all.

– Jim Lindberg (Pennywise)