I posted an email that I sent to my Father, as an open letter here on the blog, and I received a reply that I also want to post:

Tom,
I appreciate receiving this information and I did watch the video. It is a very touching story. You can rest assured that I would fight to see that this same thing would never happen to you.
Thank you for sharing this with me.
LOVE, Dad

Needless to say, I was very happy to receive this email!

What I want to add however, is that this is not the way things have always been with my Father. He might say differently. He would probably say that he has always loved me and has always been ready to do whatever it took to care for me, and to love me (and I don’t doubt that). It is true however, that we haven’t always been able to talk about things like this. Change has happened over time to get us where we are now, and that change has been on both sides of things- his and mine.