They always say that “no news is good news”. Oh, if only the first person to have spoken these words meant it the way I feel it today. I don’t know if you have noticed this recently, but it is a rare day that a news website has just as many stories that inspire, as stories of a world on fire. No news is good news indeed. Sure, this world is on the brink of global change. I can’t tell you if it will be good or bad. I can barely read my computer monitor with my old prescription glasses. I definitely can’t see the future.
There are a few things in life I believe in that help me think positive about the future we may face. They are the faces of my children. The faces of your children, and the faces of children all over the world. My belief lies in knowing that there is hope. My determination and will lies in giving my all to raise the hope I see.
This may be a little too “emo” for a men’s magazine, but I am man enough to say it right now. There is a song lyric by My Chemical Romance that says “We are the very hurt you sold.” Think on those words for a few moments… Now think on those words as spoken by your children 20 years from now. Yes, my brain just exploded too.
In the light of so many bad news stories it is hard to see past the shadows that uncertainty cast. But when it comes down to it, the only thing we really need to see is right in front of us. Our children hold a bigger role in our future than anyone. They will be the ones we depend on one day, whether we want to think that are not. The biggest challenge we face for the future isn’t in what will become of us, but what will we make of them. The challenge, is to man up and grow a pair.
Do we want to raise a future based on the fear of tomorrow? Do we want to raise a future based on greed, power, and insensitivity? Or do we want to see a future of peace, of understanding, of prosperity, progress, and love? Hope can’t always ride on the backs of others. Sometimes it needs a little help. Our hopes and dreams will be our actions and goals. As dads, it is about being the living example we want to see in the future.
In a world and time where it is so desperately needed, it is time for men to be men, put their big boy undies on, and be the change, live the change, and watch the change. The time has come for fathers to model what they hope for. I have two toddlers, ages 4 and 2, so I know that children won’t always listen. Hell, as a 28 year old, I still don’t always listen to my parents. But children are always watching. Always observing, and always becoming.
The road to the future we dream of is a rough one. There are many battles to fight in a war that will never end. Everyone will be a wounded soldier sometime and every child will be a fallen hero. But at least, in this kind of battle, there are other chances. So while we still have the chance, it is imperative that we do right, and do it right now.
I don’t know who is with me on this. And I know I will fail and fall many times, but I hope that somewhere out there, someone else is ready to answer the call. I am tired of standing by, watching the world, complaining about it, and doing nothing. I don’t want my children to turn into that person. I don’t want them to be the me I am right now. I want them to be the great future I hope for.
And for that to happen, it is up to daddy to model, to show, and to live, the future I want to see. Raising a future of integrity starts with raising ourselves in integrity. And this is a calling to loud to not answer.
