An Exemplar

This was given to me on Father's Day. The author is unknown, but it got to me like you wouldn't believe. It was printed on a silk handkerchief, with my little boy's footprints on them.

"Walk a little slower, Daddy,
Said a little child so small
I'm following in your footsteps,
and I don't want to fall.

"Sometimes they're very fast,
Sometimes they're hard to see
So walk a little slower Daddy,
For you are leading me.

"Someday when I'm all grown up,
You're what I want to be,
Then I will have a little child
Who'll want to follow me.

"And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true,
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I want to follow you."

How could somebody bring a child into this world, and not want to be a better person?

I caught my son imitating me the other day. I was sitting with my chin in my hand, ruminating on something. I look over to see my little boy studying me intently. He was sitting just like I was, with his chin in his hands. When he saw me, he just grinned from ear to ear.

Wow.

For him, I want to be a better person. I want him to be proud of me. I want him to keep imitating me, to find things about me that are worth imitating. I want to set an example that he can then pass on.

What an incredible responsibility we take on when we bring a child into this world. How this is taken so lightly by so many of us out there is beyond me. People shoot out kids like they're getting candy out of a vending machine. The kids are seen as an afterthought, kind of like the wrapper off the candy.

We had a guy escape from one of the courtrooms the other day. His girlfriend was having a baby on the same day that he was about to be sentenced to 20 years for aggravated robbery. He breaks out, then spends the next few days in a hotel with his girlfriend. Her mom brought them food during this ordeal.

Great. They get caught, of course. Now Dad's going away for a minimum of ten years before he's eligible for parole. He'll have an escape charge on top of that, which will not begin to run until his time is discharged for the first offense. Mom is going to be lit up for harboring a fugitive, as is grandmother.

And a baby born three months premature now has no father, and might lose its mother and grandmother as well. Bodes well for its future, doesn't it?

Not to mention that this all sounds like a bad movie of the week off the LIFETIME or OXYGEN channels (Or the Emasculation Network, as I like to refer to them).

I guess if you can't be a shining example to others, be a grim warning.