Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/english/1588904-an-act-of-courage
https://studentshare.org/english/1588904-an-act-of-courage.
According to researchers on behaviors working closely with the police administration, the results obtained have more to tell regarding how some families conduct themselves.
According to Natasha, in the article Where are the Men? results indicate that most of the children involved in crimes and drug trafficking are the ones brought up by single mothers. Additionally, another group of children affected by this syndrome comes from families where the father is inactive in playing the role of shaping his children in learning good morals and in becoming self-reliant. Fatherless homes suffer from invasion from any outsider since the father figure is absent in such families. There is no complete love that children should draw from both parents. The mother is therefore left with a big burden that she cannot bear on her own. Later in life, I learned that my first cousin, Johnson, engaged in drug and substance abuse due to a lack of a sound father in his life figure to emulate.
Johnson had been reared by an industrious mother who would try her best in providing for her family. The cousin, by the name Johnson, cleared his junior school and instead of proceeding with his studies, he opted to start his own business in the city. His initial business was a small shop selling clothing. The business succeeded and within four months he had registered a significant profit. Everyone in the family got amazed at the outstanding work of Johnson. After another three months, the performance of Johnson’s business started dropping, something that shocked everyone who had hope for him. The question on everyone’s mind was, "What could be wrong?" The poor performance was a result of a lack of sound business skills. Johnson did not know the concept of saving or even reinvesting.
He used to spend almost every sale he makes. Johnson’s mother approached Johnson’s father requesting him to talk with the son, hoping that he would sustain the business. Shockingly, instead of addressing the issue amicably, Johnson’s father quarreled with Johnson’s mother accusing her of “poor motherhood.” According to the father, the mother of a child is the one who should counsel her children in the way they should go, and hold their hand until they are well established in life. The discouraged mother tried to assist her son in running the business but poor Johnson continued to show more and more irresponsibility through excessive drinking of beer. The mother finally gave up on the cause she had started off by helping her son pursue a good cause in life. One afternoon as Johnson’s father sat on a stone under the shade, he asked himself several questions: “What does this culture that I hold so dearly assist me and my family? Was it meant to better my life or to make me a slave to it? What gain do I get from the pride of a man that I have esteemed for this long? Will I trade the welfare of my family for the so-called culture?”
That night Johnson’s father never had supper, he went straight to bed until the following day when he and his family members gathered up for breakfast and decided to courageously speak out as though he had lost his mind. No one could believe his words, as he repeated the same questions before his family members. He chose to face the responsibilities due unto him as a father to love, teach, and protect his family. He walked with Johnson step by step in business teaching him the discipline of saving and reinvesting. He also started enlightening other men in his locality, who thought that the pride of man meant everything to them. The choice of Johnson’s father to break the cage of unprofitable conservativeness was an act of courage, without ever minding the resistance and attacks he would have faced from other conservative men. It takes a decisive mind and a courageous person to confront challenges, especially in breaking some norms which have no value in our lives.
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