Fatherless Generation

There will come a time I will look in your eye
You will pray to the God that you always denied
The I'll go out back and I'll get my gun
I'll say, "You haven't met me, I am the only son"
--From Mumford and Sons and Dustbowl Dance

I recently came across the work of John Sowers via Twitter. Sowers, a Gen Xer, has written a book, Fatherless Generation, and maintains a blog of the same name. His work is impressive as is his commitment to the fatherless. He is the president of The Mentoring Project, a movement that is attempting to re-write the fatherless story. He has been part of the White House Task Force on Fatherhood and Healthy Families.

I really enjoyed a recent post he wrote about Mumford and Sons, the English folk rock band and their song Dustbowl Dance.

From Sower's book, Fatherless Generation:
"Growing up without a father around deeply affected me, although I didn't really understand this until I was in my midtwenties. When I did, I woke up to the millions of young people around me who were struggling with the same issue: Fatherlessness.

At the same time that I began dealing with my own issues of fatherlessnesss, I started asking questions: What does it mean for a generation to grow up without Dad? What happens when Dad walks out the door of your life, never to return? What happens when our givers of life give us lifetime of tears?

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I was looking over some of the posts I've tagged with the label Gen X Men. Most of them fall into one of two categories: posts about Generation X men who are more child-focused than men from previous generations and posts about Gen X men who struggle with inadequacy as consummate provider.