This weekend is so bittersweet for those of us who grew up without fathers. \u00a0The statistics are 40% of all children and 70+% of African-Americans grow up without a man in the house. \u00a0It creates a pain and longing that lasts a lifetime.<\/p>\n
I still remember my grandmother taking me to a department store and flagging down a random store clerk in the mens section and asking him if he would teach me how to tie a tie. \u00a0Till this day I don’t know who that man was but even now, through my tears, I say, “Thank you.”<\/p>\n
Actor and poet, Daniel Beaty, knows the pain well. \u00a0Every time I watch his poem, “Knock, Knock,” I can’t stop the tears from flowing.<\/p>\n