Dear Dr. Meeker,
I bought and read your Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters book, and it has had a profound effect on how I relate to my 8-year-old daughter, and how I try to model ideal behaviour for her.
That being said, I also don’t like what has been happening to boys in the Anglophone world (I am an American living in England, and hope to return soon, and many of the same phenomena you discussed are occurring here.) I wanted to let you know that your appearance on Dennis Prager’s show the other day has helped me come to a decision about something that’s been bugging me for a while.
I currently work in a very lucrative job, at close to the top of the game at what I do. I am not happy in this work as it is clearly not my calling: although I do it well, I don’t enjoy it. I have been playing with the idea of what I want to be when I grow up, which is, essentially, in about a year or two when I have the mortgage paid down significantly enough to where my income doesn’t need to play into my career decisions. I am also in the final three quarters of completing the bachelor’s degree I never finished the first time around.
I have been volunteering as a helper in my daughter’s Sunday School class and just last week I was approached to become a “pastoral leader” for a group of kids in the Sunday School when it reconvenes in the new school year. I was approached for this role as there are no other men really involved in the children’s program at our church, and they need men.
If this approach was a nudge in a certain direction, your conversation with Dennis Prager was a push for me… Children don’t see enough men in their lives, and I think I am going to work on becoming either a primary or middle school teacher when I return to the States. And my wife really thinks it makes a lot of sense for me, too.
I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration you’ve given me, especially as your work had touched my life profoundly before yesterday. If this plays out as I suspect it will, I’ll send you a follow-up in a few years to let you know how I got on.
Regards,
James
