WHY DADS AND INTACT FAMILIES ARE IMPORTANT

Owing to a drunken driver, my mother died when I was nine.  Both my father and I were severely injured and spent almost three months in hospitals.

Hoping to create a home environment that would provide me with support and guidance, my grandmother, father and I made up an extended family.  Early on, I knew how very fortunate I was to have an intact home, after the tragic loss of my mother.

My dad made sure that we traveled together, enjoyed rivers and forests and museums, and that I was encouraged in my education and my church attendance.  I really cannot imagine anyone having a finer father.

By the late 1960's and early 1970's, American feminists began to claim their ground through organizations such as the National Organization of Women (NOW).  With my grandmother serving as matriarch and the president of our family corporation, I cannot remember her once complaining that she was somehow a second-class citizen. Therefore, I was somewhat at a loss in discerning what type of equality these women were striving for.  However, as it eventually came to pass, there was no question that the feminists were going from a campaign for equality to one in which they were seeking a privileged position at the expense of men in general.

One piece of dogma which most feminists seemed to hold in common was that women did not need the assistance of men to raise children.  Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it is so apparent that this was the beginning of a societal process that would imperil the American family and result in unprecedented harm to American children.

Hopefully, we have learned something by the 21st century. Children raised in single-parent homes are six times more likely to live in poverty than children living in homes with a mother and a father. But, today, only 59% of children are born into homes with two parents, while 40% of children born in the U.S. in 2012 were the result of illegitimate births. Education is a big determining factor for stable homes, as shown by only 8% of college-educated women raising children by themselves, but the figure for high school dropout females soars to 65%.  Even more startling is the figure that 71% of all children living below the federal poverty line in the U.S. are being raised by a single parent.

Looking at minority communities, nearly 75% of  all black births are to unmarried women, while the figure for Hispanics is over 50%.  Those who are concerned about crime, drugs and violence in those cohorts might reasonably make the connection that the lack of viable families is an ingredient in the making of dysfunctional populations.  The greatest gift any minority child could possibly have are two parents, both of whom are committed to the welfare of their children. And, correspondingly, the payoff for society is immeasurable,

Each day, I thank God for my father, a man who sacrificed so that his son might have the stability of a viable home life.  Without his love, my lot in life might have been far different.