DEAR SIR

BY OLADIMEJI A. OJO

DEAR SIR,

This is my way of reaching out to you. I cannot come into your home, I do not dare to come to your place of work. The most I can do is to write and hope that you get to read this. I am your daughter’s boyfriend.

She has been crying has she not? That is because I broke it off with her. I did so because she told me that you were against our relationship and that you had threatened her repeatedly with various consequences if she did not end it. I love your daughter. I cannot bear to see her suffer, not even for the affection we share. The irony is, by trying to stop her suffering, i have inflicted the fresh one of heartbreak.

When we first met, your daughter was shy. She smiled rarely and snapped at everybody. A lot of people ignored her. She was alone. I could see that her loneliness went deeper than some giggling teenagers. She was hurting somewhere bad and had nobody to share it with, so I spoke to her. We talked for almost a year before she opened up, still, when she did I realised that all along she was in agony.

She suffered from memories inflicted on her by society. By persons whom you chose at the time, one of whom you still trust today. She was violated and came to believe herself worth less than nothing. She had no pride so she acted like she was proud. She had no friends so she pushed everybody away. She was alone because she had nobody to trust. Till she met me.

She had hidden herself away from you. Hidden from her mother. Hidden from her family. I made her come out. I made her come clean, open herself to you. She told you all there was to say, she spoke her mind. I expected your sympathy, I expected your outrage. I even expected you to go beserk, rain down your wrath from heaven on all those who dared attempt to ruin your child’s life. What I did not expect was for you to ignore it. I did not expect you to confine it to the dustbin of your mind. To pass it off as child’s play.

She opened up her soul to you and you turned her away with your disregard. I do not claim to understand parenting, i have never been a father. One day I hope to be. I know i will not accept disrespect as a father, this is why i do not offer it. This is why I have chosen to let your daughter be though it hurts me as much as it hurts her. This is why though she would rather we defy you, i have chosen to respect you.

Sir, it is not a crime to love a blind man. I am not one who has lost his way, a vagrant or a scoundrel. I am simply impaired. I can see, it is just we do not see the same ways. We can coexist, can we not? I can make use of my other senses, I can see the way. Atleast, at the very least, i see that i love your daughter and that is all i can say.


YOURS SINCERELY

YOUR DAUGHTER’S BOYFRIEND