Greg awoke with a yawn. Another beautiful day in America. He stood up, stretched, and said a quick prayer thanking God for all the blessings He had bestowed upon him.
Greg was truly grateful for his life. Cop, Christian, loving father—Greg had a lot going for him and was proud of who he was. He was a Good Guy. He had raised a beautiful, well-behaved daughter. He attended church regularly and didn’t judge others. His job allowed him to give back to the community and help those who were weaker than he.
Greg smiled as he realized he could smell bacon and pancakes cooking downstairs. His daughter must be making him breakfast. He pulled on his uniform and went downstairs.
“Smells great, sweetheart. What’s the occasion?”
“Nothing special, Dad. Just felt like doing something nice for you.”
He smiled and kissed her on the head. She was all grown up, but even at 20, still wanted to hang out with her Dad. He was so lucky.
“What do you have going on at work today?” she asked, flipping a pancake.
He sighed and sat down at the table. “Oh, another sensitivity training,” he said, rolling his eyes. “My buddy Mike, the one who moved to Texas, said he never has to deal with that stuff. Sometimes I wonder if it’s time to leave California.”
His daughter slid a pancake and two slices of bacon onto his plate. “I can’t believe they’re making you guys do another one of those. Don’t you have actual work to do?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, sweetie. Welcome to Biden’s America.”
“Well, maybe that will all change in November.”
Greg nodded. He felt hopeful about the upcoming election. As a Good Guy, he loved democracy, and was hopeful that it would prevail in the presidential election. Sure, there was a chance that socialist authoritarianism would win out and the election wouldn’t be run fairly, like last time, but he knew that a lot of dedicated people who supported the same candidate he did were standing by to make sure everything was on the up and up this time. Some of those people were his police colleagues, who he trusted with his life. They would make sure the right candidate won.
Most of the time, Greg led an untroubled life. After all, he was a Good Guy. He did everything right, and had been rewarded with a stable career, a beautiful daughter, and a nice car.
Lately, though, Greg found himself troubled. As a cop and a Good Guy, Greg loved justice. But people suddenly wanted cops to be held accountable for their actions, and it was getting in the way of him doing his job. He missed the days when they could haze new recruits and rough up suspects (just a little, for the sake of doing the job well). He was thinking about changing careers to something where people would hold him less accountable. But he was a cop—a Good Guy—a protector of the weak and defenseless. What else would he do?
He worried about his daughter, too, these days. She often went to the local pool to swim laps. What if someone who “identified” as a woman but was actually a man wanted to use the women’s locker room? How could he be sure she would be safe around people like that?
“Dad? Earth to Dad! I said, how was your date last night?” his daughter asked.
Greg sighed, “Not great, honey. Not a good fit.”
“Again?” she asked.
“It’s gotten harder in the last couple of years,” he said, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure why he was still single. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.
Dating used to be fun. Women used to be fun. But lately, they all seemed so hostile and angry. He was starting to get tired of it, actually. It wasn’t his fault they were angry. He loved women. He respected women. He respected them so much that he wanted the government to make their most personal, life- and body-changing decisions for them. And as a Good Guy, it was his duty to uphold God’s will and protect the voiceless unborn from harm.
But whenever this came up on a date (and why did they keep asking him about this on dates, anyway??), women became quiet and distant. Some of them would actually get up and leave, sticking him with the bill. He didn’t understand what the problem was. He loved women. He had voted for Hillary (and Obama), a fact that surely he should get some credit for. He was the father of a daughter, for goodness sake! If she were to ever accidentally get pregnant, he would be overjoyed!
One time, when he had said this, instead of being impressed, his date pointed out that if his daughter lived in a state where abortion was banned, and something went wrong with the pregnancy, his daughter could end up bleeding out at home before she was “allowed” to get medical care, and that this was happening to countless women across the country. Greg reiterated that he was just standing up for what he believed (that’s what Good Guys do, stand up for what they believe) and that he believed that abortion was wrong, so what did she want from him? This was one of the dates who had gotten up and walked out, leaving him to pay the bill. But Greg knew abortion was bad, and he was a Good Guy, so he knew he couldn’t be wrong.
Remembering that bad date, Greg sighed again and mopped up some maple syrup with his pancake.
His life wasn’t perfect. Still, at least he had his daughter. She turned around from the sink where she was cleaning the frying pan and smiled at him. He smiled back. He would do anything for her.
After all.
He was a Good Guy.