Too many fathers are missing

Fathers have a profound effect on the lives of their children.

A father can inspire, instil belief, values and courage, remembering that love is the main ingredient to raising a secure child.

I was grateful this week to watch my daughter walk across the stage at the University of Victoria. Acknowledgments, tears and cheers filled the room, a proud moment.

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson. His 1982 album, Thriller, was an expression of his very best.

I was 17, and the arrival of his album changed and stunned the musical world. Jackson’s ability to sing and choreograph was legendary.

While most would agree with Jackson’s creative genius, we would all acknowledge that he was a deeply damaged individual. Arguably the most telling moment was in 1993, during his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Jackson never sat and talked in front of the TV cameras, staying aloof. He was unusually willing to speak with Winfrey; she came to his famous Neverland ranch.

To the shock of millions, he talked about his past, stating how he had experienced extreme loneliness while in his family home. He revealed how he had been frightened of his father, Joe Jackson — he was so afraid that sometimes he would throw up when his father arrived home.

In 2003, his father confirmed as much when he made this strange declaration during an interview: “I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.”

Throughout rehearsals, Joe Jackson sat with a belt in his hands, ready to punish Michael if he didn’t perform correctly. Perhaps the unhappiest point in Michael’s heart-to-heart with Oprah Winfrey was when she asked him if he ever got angry with his Father.

Michael replies, “Sometimes I do get angry. I don’t know him the way I’d like to know him — my mother’s wonderful. To me, she’s perfection. I just wish I could understand my Father.”

A powerful insight into a fatherson relationship. This story is just a glimpse of what has been taking place globally.

Nowadays, good fathers are becoming ever more uncommon, and fatherhood is in danger of becoming extinct.

On Father's Day 2008, U.S. President Barack Obama was invited to talk at a church in Chicago. He chose to use the occasion to call the men of his city to make fatherhood a top priority.

He said, “If we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that too many fathers are missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men.”

The truth of Christianity is that God desires to be our Father, .... And because we are his sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, so now we can rightly speak of God as our dear Father. (Gal 4:6)