Last week, my 11-year-old daughter performed on stage with Roger Waters.

Let me say that again, a little louder, because it’s still hard to wrap my brain around it.

NORAH PERFORMED ON STAGE WITH ROGER WATERS.

Jumbotron Norah

She is a student at the local School of Rock, and at 2:54 pm last Thursday, I received the following email from the school’s general manager:

“Roger Water’s people just contacted us, they need 10-12 kids aged 10-15 tonight to be on stage for a section of the show (the we don’t need no education part). This is going out to you guys.… I need to know NOW.”

I tore out of my office to pick up both kids from school (45 minutes away if traffic is good; it was) and drop my younger at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Two hours later I deposited my 11-year-old at the Quicken Loans Arena, where she and her friends were whisked away to perform “Another Brick in the Wall” in front of 20,000 screaming fans.

Totally bonkers night.

And a totally bonkers response from a whole bunch of people I don’t know.

Over the past four days, I have taken A LOT of heat online for allowing my 11-year-old daughter to take part in this experience.

For the uninitiated, Roger Waters, rock ‘n’ roll royalty, runs a tad liberal. His new album is unabashedly anti-Trump, as is his current tour. The set includes a few of the more political cuts from his latest release and some stark anti-Trump imagery (e.g., a giant pig floating around the arena bearing Trump’s face).

He is also anti-Israel, an active endorser of the BDS movement. BDS stands for “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions”. It is a Palestinian-led movement calling for international pressure to compel Israel to recognize a Palestinian homeland.

These two ideologies (anti-Trump and anti-Israel) are no doubt divisive.

For these reasons, many over the past few days have questioned my parental skills, parental decision making, and overall parental fitness.

“They were taken advantage of. Shame on the parents of these kids for allowing it to happen.”

“Please consider who you are helping before you give your kids the ‘experience’ of their lives.”

“It is sad that he uses these impressionable young children to advance his twisted political agenda.”

As a wise man reminded me over the weekend, “Haters gonna hate.” Indeed.

Nevertheless, allow me to offer this rebuttal.

Dear haters:

As the “shameful” parent who “allowed this to happen,” I could not be happier that I gave my daughter the “experience of a lifetime.” She does not know from, or care one wit about, the politics of Roger Waters, or of the centuries of land grabs, distrust, and wars that have led to the current divide between Israel and Palestine. She is 11. She has plenty of time to grow up, learn about these issues, and form her own opinions. Indeed, I hope that she does.

Here is what she does know. Roger Waters is famous. Really, really famous. He was once with a band called Pink Floyd. They’ve written and performed some of rock’s all-time great albums. He is enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And, on Thursday, he asked for her and her friends to join him on stage to perform his most famous song, “Another Brick in the Wall.” She was thrilled.

Here is what she did. She went backstage. She explained to the security personnel who searched her purse that the baggie of white powder she carries is dextrose, which she uses medicinally to counteract her fructose malabsorption. She rehearsed on stage with a rock legend, and watched him sarcastically scold one of her bandmates for missing his mark. She ate a great catered meal prepared by a rock legend’s personal chef (dextrose included). She and her friends performed in front of 20,000 people. And they killed. She went backstage again, where she posed for a few pictures, received a signed autograph, and got to keep the shirt she was given to wear on stage. She reports that Roger Waters could not have been more kind or gracious. She walked through the arena’s concourse to meet me, and received cheers and applause from all she passed. She was beaming.

A post shared by Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) on Sep 21, 2017 at 9:38pm PDT

That is what she knows, and that is what she did.

She’s 11. She knows rock ‘n’ roll and making people smile. Last Thursday night she did both in spades. And there was zero chance I was denying her the opportunity to do what she did because of some political issues about which she does not know.

She is neither a pawn nor a shill. She is my daughter, and I could not be more proud of her or the person she is.

And, before you accuse me of allowing my daughter to be used as a political pawn, what exactly is it that you are doing when you question my parenting decisions? Which one of us is shameful and twisted? Dad, who supports my daughter and the art that she loves, or you, who chooses to place the weight of the political world on the shoulders of an 11 year old who neither asked for it nor understands it, and seeks to deny her an opportunity because of it? Shame, indeed.

Thanks for reading. Rock on.