Calling all men

It is a big white sign with black lettering on Main Street. I have driven past it at least once a week for as long as I can remember. And for as long as I remember, the numbers remain depressingly similar.

Big sisters needed: 20 (or less, I've seen it get as low as 0)

Big brothers needed: 200 (sometimes more)

It is a sad statement about our society. It is a sad fact many young boys face.
The lack of good father figures or male role models is a problem that continues to feed itself. An absent father leaves a boy without anyone to show him how to be a man, how to be strong and stand against the pressures of this world. A man can teach a boy things that a woman can't, because as much as some people might try to deny it, men and women ARE different. Boys need fathers, or at the very least, big brothers.

But as this sign on Main Street shows, very few men are willing to step up to the job.

Women are known as nurturers. Society views them this way, their genetics predispose them to be nurturing (not all women, but the vast majority). Men have a different role to fill, at least, that is what society says.

Yet it is every bit as important, perhaps even more important, for men to spend time with young boys, to help them grow up, to teach them and simply be there, to show them how to be good men.

Our culture does not place value on men who stay at home, who take care of children, who help nurture the next generation. But it should, because every generation without male role models, every fatherless boy, is far more likely to commit crime and be a burden to society than a boy who had a father, uncle, or big brother.


Men, where are you? What are you doing with your time, your energy? How often do you go out to a movie, play sports, watch TV, work on a hobby? You could be a 'big brother' and invite a boy to join you in any of these activities. Why are you neglecting the most important job God gave you?

There is a radio advertisement which attempts to recruit foster parents by showing people how simple the job is. It is not complicated, and anyone can do it. The advertisement is about a boy asking his foster dad to get the ketchup out of the bottle, and the dad shows him how to dislodge stuck ketchup so the boy can do it himself in the future.

Will you teach a kid how to get ketchup out of the bottle? Will you help a boy become a self-sufficient adult? There are far more adults than children, so why don't children have enough care?

I want to challenge every man to find at least one boy to mentor. If every man who doesn't have a son of his own would mentor just one boy who needed a role model, this problem would be solved.

Step up. We need you.