Dear Grandpa,

Thank you for believing.

You looked at your bright and quizzical daughters and and believed that they could do anything. When society wanted nice little cookie cutter women who could bake and sew you said "My daughter can do more". When the schools put your daughter in remedial math you forced them to move her into advanced math because she could do it and you knew it.

You helped to create a generation of women who burned their bras and became Presidential candidates. Despite the prevailing culture, your belief that your daughters were worthy of the world created a generation of strong and confident women.

But you didn't stop there, no, you also taught your sons that their mothers and sisters and daughters were strong and intelligent and ready for the world.

And what came out of your quiet fight to ensure the strength and poise of your children? Me. I was blessed with parents who believed that I could change the world for the better. That I was strong enough and smart enough to take on any prejudice, biggotry or societal norm.

But you are not the beginning of this story because you are the son of the generation that gave women the right to vote in America. You learned from your father that your mother and sisters and daughters are great assets to be cherished. You are the son of a generation that seems in retrospect unimaginably sexist, yet they passed a Constitutional Amendment that brought us one step closer to equality.

You are not a power broker working in the halls of Washington D.C. You are not a high powered executive who can choose to discriminate more or less at a whim. You are the quiet voice of truth and justice that moves our society forward toward a better future for you children and grandchildren. And your contributions will outlast those in "power" because you hold the real power to make the world better. Your are the original "Culture Warrior", working to make your world live up to the principles and ideals that it espouses so that my life can be better and more fulfilled than those that came before.

--The tiny feminist in my head