Reflections on Ignorance-Dad Strength and Determination

     This semester the Knights of Columbus on campus have been hosting events once a month called "Into the Breach." At these events we have been watching a series from the Knights of Columbus called "Into the Breach." The series talks about masculinity within the context of Catholic Christianity. The specific episode we watched this week talked about the importance of fatherhood. In the discussion following the video we talked about various father figures we have, or have had, in our lives. I talked about my father. 

    My father, although expectedly imperfect, has been a constant exemplar of determination and selflessness in my life. One example of such behavior from this past summer perfectly demonstrates this, and I could give countless others. My parents had recently remodeled part of the exterior of our house, and there were two or three pallets of leftover brick sitting in our front yard. My dad of course decided the bricks needed to be moved to the back of the house via wheelbarrow, and while everyone else was mostly relaxing that day he decided to move the bricks. Mind you, it was at least ninety degrees outside that day. My dad never asked for any help before he started the work (his father was very similar). I saw him come around the back of the house with his first load of bricks, and I decided to lend a hand. It took us a couple hours of hard work, but we got it done. Believe it or not, my father would have done all of that back-breaking work with or without my help. Sharing this with the other knights made me really appreciate just how selfless my father is, and it showed me just how much I have to learn about being a man. 

    Sure, when my father was my age he was in a very different situation with his faith and the way he lived his life. So that makes me better than him, right? That makes me more of a man: because I am ahead of the game? I don't think so. The lesson I took from this is actually how little I know about being a man. How I know so little of waking up every day and providing for those who mean the world to you. I could present to you all of the time and energy I have spent thinking about what it means to be a man and how to  live like one, but that all pales in comparison to my father, and the countless other men, who have actually lived the life of a man. I can sometimes think that my philosophical studies have absolved me from genuinely living. Thinking about all of this is only half the battle, for we must live what we think and believe. I am still figuring that out.