Last night I was watching a really fantastic episode of Oprah's Lifeclass with Iyanla Vanzant. The topic of discussion was one that they call a crisis that needs to addressed, Fatherless Sons. The audience was all men who were neglected by their fathers as children and are now wounded men who either inflict the same hurt to their own families and/or walk around believing that they are not worthy enough for...
I have to be honest, I was completely struck by how open and emotional these men were in the audience, many of them late into their adulthood but still carrying around open wounds. In society, we often have a running dialogue about "no-good" fathers who left their families or the result of children who grow up without a father figure (more likely to drop out of school, higher crime rate, etc) but do not take the time to zone in on how it has affected our little boys or the men in our lives who are carrying around the wounds of the little boy in them. It was great to see Oprah and Iyanla create a space for these men to just feel safe enough to let their heart finally bleed out, to speak their truth and be honest about their hurt. As Iyanla said, how many times do ask a fatherless son "how is the experience impacting your life?". I'm glad that yesterday's Lifeclass provided that opportunity and hopefully started a dialogue that goes deeper than just a discussion of the problem or running off statistics but allows men the vulnerability to speak about their wounds so that they can heal it to become better men and better fathers to the next generation of little boys who just want to be loved by their daddy.
Did you watch this episode of Lifeclass? Was your reaction similar?
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