Sean Johnson - Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes - 5 times the average.
• 85% of all children who show behavior disorders are from fatherless homes - 20 times the average.
• 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes - 14 times the average.
• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes - 9 times the average.
• 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes - 10 times the average.
• 70% of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes - 9 times the average.
• 85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes - 20 times the average.

Source: The Belmont Foundation

The world needs more noble men. Our women, overworked, underappreciated and underloved, need more noble men. Our children, desperately longing for someone to look up to, someone to admire who isn’t pitching them sports drinks or sneakers or nice cars or cheap women need more noble men.

Noble. That’s a powerful word. How many of us would be comfortable being characterized as noble? How many guys, if they look into their hearts, into the places no one else sees, would come out on the other side thinking that such a claim is justified?

I know I certainly fail this test. I was blessed with not one but two great fathers who in practically every way far surpass me in the department. I’m often distracted, often waffling, often unwilling to stand up for who I am and what I believe in (at least in the real world, away from the security blanket of a computer screen.)

But I know that I must change. My soon-to-be wife depends on it. My children will one day depend on it. And so will yours.

The world of free love, of pursuing careers before relationships of depth, of insincere vows and drive-through divorce centers - the world of cheap commitments and easy outs has made it easy to be a flake. In the name of “just trying to live one day at a time, trying to do what makes me happy,” so many of us men have become spineless. Not about our conquests in the world of business or the basketball court or the nightclub. But in things that matter.

Like having the strength and courage to tell a woman that you love her and only her and meaning it.

Like having the bravery to stick around when money gets tight and stress levels shoot through the roof and babies are crying down the hall.

Like being able to guide a young boy as he grows into a teenager and a young adult, teaching him that honesty, discipline, responsibility and virtue aren’t boring, old-world concepts but represent some of the highest aims a man could reach for.

Like having the fortitude to tell a close friend when they’re screwing up, loving them enough to hold them accountable so that their lives and the lives of those around them don’t represent more ticks in some statmaker’s record book.

I got to hear from a lot of amazing people last week, people who’ve sold their companies for tens of millions of dollars, people who appear to have it all together. I got to watch the Heat battle back against the Mavericks, watching the best of the best battling it out on the court, doing things that my slightly overweight pale butt only wishes it could do.

But in the end, the IPOs and the buyouts and the behind the back passes and the dunks over three guys and the fleet of vintage cars and the swagger and the killer instinct have absolutely nothing to do with what makes you or I a great man. Those are just games, those aren’t the arenas that seperate the proverbial men from the boys.

Nobility is forged and earned in our homes, with our families and friends, in our souls that are desperately trying to find something that will make them feel whole. Nobility is acheived when our lives are lived with honor, integrity, honestly, compassion, self-control, faithfulness, love. And all to a greater degree when no one’s looking, when the press isn’t trying to quote us, when people aren’t looking to put us on a pedastal and toast to our greatness.

The men who acheive nobility in this fashion are the men we need to admire, respect and emulate. They are the men who change the world. They are the men who live lives worth talking about.

If you’re a father and you feel you fail the test of nobility as I have, I pray that you make this year different - for your sake and the sake of those you love.

If you’re not a father, I pray that you think about the kind of man that you are and the kind of man that you wish to become. Forget about the money and the awards and the notches on your belt - think about the kind of man that the world really needs, the kind of man the woman in your life will need, that the little boy or girl and their pliable, fragile life will need. Think about what it would mean for you to be noble.

If you have a father and you haven’t told them yet, tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them that their efforts have not gone unnoticed, that their love is felt, that their counsel and guidance is appreciated. Tell them that you admire them more than they’ll ever know.

Happy Father’s Day.