"Just Call Me Dad": The Dilemma of Being a Father in the United States

By Al McCarthy

A midnight phone call from parents in Virginia to Germany alerts a military man that his four-year-old son, their grandson, has been driven from California and abandoned by his mother. The military man sensed that his marriage has broken down files for divorce and custody only to be told that he cannot get custody of his son because of his military service and that his son has to be torn from his grandparents and returned to the mother who abandoned him. Twelve years later, after a twenty-year military commitment, that military man files for custody again this time in Mississippi from Alaska where he is disrespected and abused financially by a court system that favors custody to go to the mother despite of many shortcomings by that mother. After winning custody the military man discovers that planted in the mind of his son is one last mental entanglement designed to deny him a lasting relationship with his father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641143547

Book preview

301486-eBook.jpg

Just Call Me Dad

The Dilemma of Being a Father in the United States

Al McCarthy

ISBN 978-1-64114-353-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64114-354-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2018 by Al McCarthy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my father and my late brother Tracy.

"My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’ d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victors ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead".

O Captain! My Captain by Walt Whitman

Preface

Families, the building blocks of any society and I believe the first rung in a godly government are on a ship, under fire and this vessel is sinking fast. The person drawing the most fire on this ship is the father. He is standing on the bow with a raised sword amid hundreds of bullets. Another father is lying in the arms of his brethren on the deck of that ship mortally wounded. Where in our society are these bullets coming from? Who or what organization in our society has a vested interest in sinking this ship? Who or what organization will benefit from certain segments of our society that will be left unguarded by this ship not guarding the harbor? Finally, who or what organization will benefit by not having this ship in their way as they sail their ship of liberal contraband into our land to change our society?

The concept of men controlling families, referred to in countless examples in the Bibles of the world, was the basis of the family unit in this country until the forces of society began to shatter these biblical examples in favor of an unfounded political correctness that sought to control segments of our population. After the American Civil War, black men released from the bondage of slavery walked entire states in search of their loved ones to unite their fractured families. Their catalyst in this movement was their reference to the Bibles given to them, sometimes the only book available at the time. The male chieftains who anchored the American Indians guided their tribes through forced displacements, famines, and diseases while sifting through the myriad of governmental restrictions, laws, and policies. Despite these distractions, the masculine dominance of the American Indians was maintained and, with constant references with the deities of the earth, moon, and stars, the males handed down the traditions and practices that kept their clans strong and independent for decades.

Manpower shortages in the nation because of the horrific losses during the Civil War necessitated women to temporarily take both the male and female role in raising families. Infrastructure and personal property destruction left thousands of widowed women and orphaned children in abstract poverty. Despite these hardships, young boys found role models in the heroes of the Civil War and young girls found their callings in the traditions of the antebellum Southern culture. Slowly, the vanquished poor reestablished family bonds that moved them toward a better life through hard work and perseverance.

From the 1900 to the 1950s, the working poor with the male-dominated unions solidified family units and guided young men and women toward success. Black Americans migrated into the larger cities and established the cultural centers of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Harlem, New York. These migrations to the industrialized northern cities began to pave the way for a better way of life. Education, though segregated, began to put out the captains of black culture, such as Booker T. Washington, George Washington