A Sense of Purpose Recently, I watched a PBS concert tribute to Harry Chapin, a wonderfully gifted singer/songwriter and even greater humanitarian in the 1970s. In addition to having popular songs at the top of the charts, Harry received the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal * for his efforts to combat world hunger. Harry explained his…
Telling the Truth As a young boy, the thing I remember my parents emphasizing the most was to always tell the truth. We all heard the story about George Washington and the cherry tree along with tales of other persons of honorable character. The moral was always “tell the truth”. I suppose, like many children,…
Everyday each of us is confronted with decisions. Opportunities to move forward or not. Some decisions are large, some are small. Do my exercises or not? Practice my piano lesson or not? Salad or French fries with my burger? Wear a mask or not? Reach out to someone new or not? Love my neighbor? Push…
Throughout my life, my mother was one of my biggest fans and supporters. During the last decade, she has been the most spirited supporter of Be There Dad. She has distributed our books and told more people about our organization than most folks. For all its years, she praised Be There Dad for our vision,…
A Ritual of Hope For years on Christmas Eve at my home church, a ritual of hope took place. Near the end of the worship service, our Pastor stood at the Chancel with a single lighted candle. Two ushers came forward and lit their candles from his. As the congregation began singing the age-old lyrics…
In this season of “comfort and joy”, I wonder how discomfort can also bring joy. If one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; then, I wonder if sanity must be doing things differently in order to achieve a desired result. No Pain, No Gain In…
The Answer is Up to Us At Be There Dad, we have always stressed the importance of role models. Part of our mission has been to have men present in schools and elsewhere, so children can see them and emulate their positive attributes. Rules for Success Last week I watched the funeral of General Colin…
Run to Daylight: What Can We Help? At Be There Dad, the vision embraced by all our dads is that every child will feel the power of presence. Individually, and collectively, we continually ask how we can best serve the children. How can we use our time, talent, and treasure so that the kids may…
Today, I re-visit an article we published in 2012. If you look past the names and location, like so many Be There Dad concepts, I believe the thoughts are as relevant today as they were back then. I Can Only Get Better Like many other Americans, in the past week or so, I have spent…
I stood on the sidelines and watched our twelve-year-old soccer team run up and down the field. I was pleased. It seemed they were executing what we had taught in practice earlier that week; and when I shouted instructions, they worked to respond accordingly. A coach’s dream. The leader of that orange and black clad…