Courtesy of Elev8
From birth to death and every step in between, the greatest occurrences in any life are often preceded by a moment. Once a year the world dedicates 1440 of its moments to acknowledge its fathers, and once a year the men, defined by the moment that they decided to abandon their child or children, ruminate over what went wrong. What do these fathers miss out on? How will they ever know?
If you talk to anyone who grew up without their father, or a father figure, you will learn that the father who was absent from their lives missed the moments where his words and acts of encouragement could have prevented them from becoming a teenaged parent. According to statistics, being raised without one’s father raises the risk of teen pregnancy. If he’s left his son, this father missed the chance explain through words and action just why education is important, or to prevent that young man from seeking acceptance and his identity from those who would chose to exploit rather than exalt his child to that boy’s true potential. Prisons are filled with wasted talent, potential and people in pain. 70% of inmates in juvenile prisons come from fatherless homes.
[Father and baby image via Shutterstock]