Lucky Old Man

Sg, I expect that we’ll generally get along. I guess most dads think the same about their future relationships with their presently-toddlers.

I am pretty sure that you will have read Frank Miller’s the Dark Knight Returns—even if you’re not in to comics or Batman. I have found that a big part of sanity preservation in parenting is persuasion. And (let’s face it) persuasion, when it comes to people you know very, very well, is nigh indistinguishable from manipulation. I have developed a repertoire of methods for making you think that my plans are your ideas. I don’t mind telling you this, because—by the time you read this—I’m sure you will have come to realize that you have a similarly effective skill set for subtly persuading me. No hard feelings; it’s just the kind of apes we are. And if I can’t get you to read a genre-defining graphic novel when you’re a teenager, well then I’m not nearly so persuasive as I think I am.

But I’m getting away from my point. It’s a little sad that, even if we have similar senses of humor, and even if you read the Dark Knight Returns, you will lack the political context to really appreciate this: