Inherent in men is the desire to surpass those around us. We don't just want to eat hot wings with our buddies; we want to eat a full plate of the hottest wings around. We want the fastest car, the best job, and the prettiest girlfriend, but all these things are temporary. The car can get us killed, our job is only as good as the joy it brings us, and the external becomes less important as we see the inner glow of our wives. We mature, hopefully, and begin working towards the important things that can bring us true happiness. Beyond this, what can bring us more happiness than immortality? The promise of a successful child in this world is a sure bet that our influence will be felt for generations as we instill in him (or her) our greatest qualities. We want the knowledge gained from our experiences to be bestowed upon our children so that they don't make the same mistakes. With the assets of wisdom, motivation, and a caring father; why shouldn't our children surpass us in every way and even change the world?
Many fathers don't grasp the depth of their influence and instead of instilling greatness; they only perpetuate a cycle of self-loathing that continues for generations. However, some men are able to stop this. They see their father for the bum he was and decide, I'm not going to be like that, and my children will not have to endure the same behavior with me. Then this father, with a renewed purpose in life, finds a way to raise a respectable young man or woman. The nightmares of his own childhood spur him on to look at other fathers doing the right thing because he has no other resource to pull from besides his own determination and a supportive wife who wants the same things he does. Maybe he turns to his faith and the father figure he finds there guides his actions to raising a child who is healthy and well-adjusted. In any case, a real man will find a way to do his very best for his child no matter what. With the cycle broken, a father can be proud of the new lineage he has begun.
In conjunction with the desire to succeed is an intense hunger for pleasure. Drug use, strip clubs, and even white collar crimes are quick fixes for men and their hedonistic tendencies. For some, these sources meet the need to feel like a real man, but they only offer a shadow of this mental and emotional state. Selling drugs to another man will certainly wreck lives. The nude girl a man looks at when he visits the local tavern is someone's daughter. Embezzlement drains money from hard working people and destroys the future of many. Men can be blamed for all these acts but men can also be given the credit for stopping them. Men, who know, see the pain caused by evil activity and think, "Not my family." This empathic reasoning lifts a man's heart to unbelievable heights and he becomes more than a man. He becomes a superheroe in the eyes of those he serves whether it's being a good leader in the home or risking his life total strangers. Being a dad does a lot of things to you, but something it won't do to a real father is cause pain to result from his own self-serving behavior.
A real dad knows that true and lasting pleasure can only be found in the success of a solid foundation he provides for his family and his community.
A real dad knows that true and lasting pleasure can only be found in the success of a solid foundation he provides for his family and his community.
