Monday, April 2, 2012

Letter From Dad

Sometimes I forget that my dad was a man before he was ever a father.  He wrote me something really special in response to what I wrote about him. I won't share it all but a lot of what he said, really hit home:

Don’t give up on the men of your generation, but don’t give in either. They will only rise to the accountability that the women of your generation challenge them to. Don’t beat a brother down and don’t make excuses for him either. Always look for opportunities to encourage others as well as yourself.
  
If you read my blog regularly, then you know why this statement from my dad means so much to me.  Even recently, I allowed Meshwell to resurface in my life as a friend and once again he fouled me.  I keep letting it happen because I don't want to "give up on the men of my generation."  But I always find myself making excuses for him/them..."oh he's only doing this because he's stressed."  And I do always look for opportunities to encourage him - but he doesn't do this for me...or anything nice for me for that matter.  So why let him resurface? Because he has good conversation and an education- but that's not enough to give him a gold seal.  My dad is right - they will only rise to the accountability that women challenge them to - and I didn't challenge him at all...I just sank to his level.  Hopefully he meets someone that can challenge him.  Hopefully ALL of these guys do.  Me, I'm going to wait for one of the developed ones. :)