Father’s Day Message
Posted on June 15, 2008
I am a father of two. My eight year old son’s father abandoned him and his mother when he was two years old. I met his mother when he was three and married her and adopted him when he was four. I’m the only father he knows. We finally got him diagnosed for ADHD and he was prescribed Concerta. Its like a completely different kid. He is awesome, and I’m happy and proud to have him for a son.
I am also the father of a new baby girl named Reagan Daileen. She is now one month old and beautiful. I’m proud to be a father.
Enough about me, today’s Father Day Message comes from a Democrat…Juan Williams.
As we celebrate Father’s Day tomorrow, we should reflect upon a sad fact: It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them.
When fatherless young people are encouraged to write about their lives, they tell heartbreaking stories about feeling like “throwaway people.” In the privacy of the written page, their hard, emotional shells crack open to reveal the uncertainty that comes from not knowing if their father has any interest in them. The stories are like letters to unknown dads – some filled with imaginary scenes about what it might be like to have a dad who comes home and puts his arm around you or plays with you.
They feel like they’ve been thrown away, Mr. Myers says, because “they don’t have a father to push them, discipline them, and they give up trying to succeed . . . they don’t see themselves as wanted.” A regular theme of their stories is that they feel safer in a foster care home or juvenile detention center than on the outside, because they have no father to hold together the family. There is no one at home.
The extent of the problem is clear. The nation’s out-of-wedlock birth rate is 38%. Among white children, 28% are now born to a single mother; among Hispanic children it is 50% and reaches a chilling, disorienting peak of 71% for black children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly a quarter of America’s white children (22%) do not have any male in their homes; nearly a third (31%) of Hispanic children and over half of black children (56%) are fatherless.
Read it all..it is a must, must read for all fathers.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, News
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4 Responses to “Father’s Day Message”
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That is all true. I do some prison ministry and most of the guys have similar stories, and sadly, they created situations like that for their kids. They need to stop the cycle.
Good for you on the prison ministry…did you follow the link and read it all? Its got an awesome ending, that I almost quoted instead of what i did.
A terrific article filled with important truths — and yes, I did read it to the end and you’re right, it was very touching.
I am a grandfather 6 times over. I remember, a few years ago, one of my sons, who now has three children of his own, said to me, “Dad, I’ve been thinking — how did you ever stand me?” lol
A very special Happy Father’s Day to you sir!
The thrust of the article is valid, but beware of inflated statistics. I am not “in my son’s home” technically, but he spends so much time in my home that I am as much a part of his life as his mother is. Our system gives physical custody to the mother in all but the most extreme cases, so this number is as much a product of our system as it is of the behavior of fathers.
The relevant statistic would be percentage of children who don’t spend a significant amount of time with their fathers. That number would be harder to gather and smaller, so the author didn’t bother.