My daughter, you’re not 16, but it’s never too early to get a driving lesson. The most powerful line of this movie, for me, is the last one, when Thelma says to Louise, “Let’s keep going.” When the journey first started, that Going for these women was about getting away from the men in their life. However, that’s not the driving force for them by the end of the movie. Actually, a huge mistake people make in the film (most especially the main detective, who’s supposed to be the most gentlemanly of the bunch) is to conclude that Thelma and Louise’s journey was one forced on them by men. “Abusive husbands and passive boyfriends made them do it. Men stealing their money did it. Rapists did it.” No doubt these horrendous things happened to these women and impacted who they are. But it would be a tragedy to put those men in the driver’s seat, or to think of them as any more than spent fuel. In the end, Thelma and Louise drive themselves. Their final Going is fueled by their desire and anticipation for a destiny of their choice. Their sight is on the road ahead, not the roadblocks behind. “Let’s keep going,” is more about Thelma and Louise driving toward the places they want to go than it is about the places they don’t want to go back to. So, listen my daughter, don’t waste all your life running away from something or someone. If someday you find bad passengers riding with you, kick their butt out and keep going. But, don’t achieve greatness in order to spite them, or to spite any statistic or any repulsive failure of man-kind. That path certainly won’t offer you agency to be the woman you are. Let your tires spit dust on those roadblocks. You focus your life driving toward a destiny of your choosing, determined by your dreams and hopes for a great life. Then, keep going. #KeepGoing #Fatherhood #fatherlessons