This past Tuesday evening, I went to an event sponsored by the Abstinence & Marriage Partnership. The organization provides strength to the family structure by promoting healthy relationships, teaching practical steps to achieve a sustaining marriage and abstinence from high risk behaviors such as sex outside of marriage and other critical decisions that can impact one’s life and future.
The executive director of the organization Mr. Scott Phelps explained the need for such education showcasing the percentage of children born to two-parent households from the 1940s to recent years. According to statistics garnered from the Center for Disease Control, the percentage for children born out of wedlock in the 1940s and 1950s was 4%. This is a time where Mr. Phelps pointed out that there was a clear divide or boundary line when it came to morals.
He went on to explain the sexual revolution that took place in the 1960s and how since the sexual revolution, those boundary lines began to become erased. The percentage for children being born out of non two-parent homes has risen all the way to 46% for the country, and of course it is the highest in the Black community where it is 72%.
Anyone who has been around a while knows that a man’s presence in the family is immensely important to the home and to the children in the family. A man’s presence or the lack thereof affects nearly every facet of society because men in families provide worth to children, structure, guidance, strength, and so many other things. Phelps closed his presentation in asking how will we be able to strengthen the family? How will we be able to fix the problems discussed tonight?
That is when a man stood up in the room and addressed the audience with passion, authority, and strength. He represented a mature man. His answer was that what he felt would fix every problem in this country would be for there to be more men.
Not just any type of man, but men who honor God. Men who honor their vows of marriage. Men who stick with their families when times are easy and when times are hard. Unselfish men, who are willing to be fathers. It was so refreshing to hear him speak. He did not speak in a manner to condemn men, but to invite men to the challenge of fulfilling their places as pillars in the community and in the home. When the home is strengthened the communities are strengthened.
That man who stood up was Mike Singletary, pro NFL football player for the Chicago Bears during 1981- 1992. He talked about how he fills the shoes of a father in his home. He doesn’t just allow anything into his home, but he guards his home because he is a protector. He talked about how he talks with his kids getting into their lives making them think about different things. For example, he mentioned a young daughter of his who is on her way to college. He told her if he was a young man who did not know her he would try to holla. He asked her what would she do in a situation like that would she be so caught up in the ideal of wanting to be in love.
He has another son who is working towards being an actor. He asked him to think about how he is going to stand for God in that type of an environment. Not only is he protecting his household, but he is equipping his household to protect themselves and to protect and lead others. That is what fathers do. That is what men do. What would this world look like if we had more men like that?
Please, enjoy a snippet of what Mr. Singletary shared on Tuesday evening:
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