Jun. 20, 2009 - Fathers
A couple of nights ago we were awakened at 1 am by a young man rapping out on his porch. I don't know which neighbor it was, just that it was a young man, and he was very angry. And loud. He continued on for a good 3 hours, during which time Josiah eventually had to get up for work, and I tried to sleep but couldn't because of the noise. I was so angry and frustrated. I thought of calling the police. But then figured that would require more coherance than I was able to muster at that hour with that little sleep. So I dragged through that day.
But the more I thought back on that young man, the more I realized that while he may have been drunk, or just rude, what he was singing/rapping was a heart-cry of the most anguished kind. As we lay there in the dark trying to ignore him and the vile cursing that was part of his "song", I realized I was hearing the pain of a young man who is fatherless. I'm not just guessing, either. Snatches of the lyrics were very clearly about abuse and abandonment by a father. The boy alternated between rage and line after line of vulgar invective to heartbreaking pleading reminding the now-gone father what a family is supposed to look like and bemoaning the lack of a cohesive family.
Realizing that, my anger dissipated. We have a nation full of fatherless children, with the numbers increasing every decade. Knowing this makes me all the more grateful for the wonderful father's I've come to know. My own dad, of course, and now my husband. I consider myself so blessed and fortunate to have been raised with a loving, kind, patient father in the home. My husband is a different man and a different kind of father, but our children also have the blessing and the frank advantage in life of having a dad who is invested in them and their futures, and who pours himself out and sacrifices tremendously so that they can live well and be safe and comfortable.
I thank God for fathers who stick with their families through thick and thin, who give up their own lives for their loved ones, who don't abandon, abuse, or neglect. May God give all of us with sons the grace and wisdom to raise them to be such men, to step into the shoes of their fathers and become wonderful fathers themselves!
Comments
Jul. 1, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Wow, great post. So many of these young men are in massive amounts of emotional pain that manifests itself in anger and anti-social behavior. My heart aches for them.
