WHERE ARE THE FATHERS?

 

I was thinking this morning.... We grew up in the Ogboru neighbourhood of Warri. An area where vices were prevalent. As young boys, we were highly impressionable and easily influenced by the grown-up jagudas and bomas. It was at this crucial phase of my life that my dad gathered us one evening and said 'Study hard and come top of your class (First to Third) and you will get a packet of Cabin biscuits and a tin of Corned Beef.' That challenge set my feet on the right pedestal, unlike so many other boys who were positively challenged.

I was reflecting on this experience when I received a call from a scammer. The second in one week. While a number of young people are profiting from the 'Attention Industry' known as Social media, the majority are wasting their lives away. Young men are perfecting scamming techniques while girls are shamelessly exposing their flesh to the world or engaged in electronic hook-up. Yet, statistics say there are 1.5 billion fathers in the world. Really?

Walk to the streets, and you will be shocked by how gangs, drugs, immorality, and sports betting have imprisoned the destinies of the youths. Yet, statistics say there are 1.5 billion fathers. Abeg, where are the fathers? Visit the home of an average street child, and you will see a single mother struggling to care for her children or an emotionally absent father. Yet, statistics say there are 1.5 billion fathers. Abegi!

A father is a shining light and a beacon to his children, steering them to becoming morally, spiritually, and emotionally stable adults. There might be 1.5 billion men that have impregnated women, but definitely not 1.5 billion fathers. You hear so much about social media influencers, but people forget that the most important influencer in the family is the man. If he successfully influences the children to greatness, then he is a father, otherwise, he is just a man.

As we celebrate another Fathers Day, I challenge all men to reflect on whether they are true fathers. An emotionally absent father is as bad a case as a physically absent one. Proverbs 23:24 says, "The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him." Don’t withhold your love, affection and approval from your children. Be a true father.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Fathers Day!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey