In the Absence of Fathers: A Story of Elephants and Men

Posted by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on June 20, 2012

Are committed fathers an endangered species in our culture? Fr. Gordon MacRae draws a troubling corollary between absent fathers and burgeoning prisons.

.
thesestonewalls.com...
.

.
. . .
.
The result was shocking. The culprits turned out to be marauding bands of aggressive juvenile male elephants, the very elephants relocated from Kruger National Park a few years earlier. The young males were caught on camera chasing down the rhinos, knocking them over, and stomping and goring them to death with their tusks. The juvenile elephants were terrorizing other animals in the park as well. Such behavior was very rare among elephants. Something had gone terribly wrong.
.
. . .
.
Juvenile male elephants, Dr. Horn pointed out, experience “musth,” a state of frenzy triggered by mating season and increases in testosterone. Normally, dominant bulls manage and contain the testosterone-induced frenzy in the younger males. Left without elephant modeling, the rangers theorized, the younger elephants were missing the civilizing influence of their elders as nature and pachyderm protocol intended.
.
To test the theory, the rangers constructed a bigger and stronger harness, then flew in some of the older bulls left behind at Kruger. Within weeks, the bizarre and violent behavior of the juvenile elephants stopped completely. The older bulls let them know that their behaviors were not elephant-like at all. In a short time, the younger elephants were following the older and more dominant bulls around while learning how to be elephants.
.
. . .
.
MARAUDING IN CENTRAL PARK
.
In his terrific article, “Of Elephants and Men,” Dr. Wade Horn went on to write of a story very similar to that of the elephants, though it happened not in Africa, but in New York’s Central Park. The story involved young men, not young elephants, but the details were eerily close. Groups of young men were caught on camera sexually harassing and robbing women and victimizing others in the park. Their herd mentality created a sort of frenzy that was both brazen and contagious. In broad daylight, they seemed to compete with each other, even laughing and mugging for the cameras as they assaulted and robbed passersby. It was not, in any sense of the term, the behavior of civilized men.
.
. . .
.
Dr. Horn pointed out that simply replacing fathers with more police isn’t a solution. No matter how many police are hired and trained, they will quickly be outnumbered if they assume the task of both investigating crime and preventing crime. They will quickly be outnumbered because presently in our culture, two out of every five young men are raised in fatherless homes, and that disparity is growing faster as traditional family systems break down throughout the Western world.
.
. . .
.
. . . . Dr. Horn cited a quote from a young Daniel Patrick Moynihan written some forty years ago:
.

“From the wild Irish slums of the 19th Century Eastern Seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken homes, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations for the future – that community asks for and gets chaos.”

.
. . .
.

.
I've talked at some length about absent and/or abusive fathers causing an epidemic of ATTACHMENT DISORDER:
.
HOW TO REAR CHILDREN FOR A LIFE IN PRISON: COLD, HARSH, DETACHED, RIGID, INSENSITIVE, DISTANT, ABUSIVE . . .
.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

= = =

ATtachment Disorder: Successes at Overcoming; Ideas Sharing; Things That Have Worked and Not Worked:
.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
.
= = =
.
Secure Attachment Based Parenting [Successful Quality Parenting a few Book Chapter excerpts]

= = = = = = = = = = =
.
I was quite touched by the elephants story.
.
I do think it is an excellent analogy for what we see day in and day out in our culture and around the globe in terms of the impacts of absent and/or abusive father.
.
I've read that the oligarchy knows that the brains of kids who've had particularly poor fathering are damaged (as MRI studies have proven). Further, that the oligarchy essentially writes them off in the sense that they know a large percentage will either not be very contributive to society or will cost more in trouble to society than they will contribute [Cue the movie THX 1138--George Lucas' Master's Thesis].
.
We don't hear or see a lot in the Main Stream Media about how needed fathers are; what can be done to support them and their building close relationships with their kids; etc. For a somewhat obvious reason. The oligarchy wants to destroy families and have the State rear the kids. Shredding fathers' relationships with their kids and demeaning men and fathers in general have been the early efforts toward that goal.
.
Wise people will resist such efforts. Certainly wise people who genuinely WANT kids, will do so.
.
And the rest of us and society in general will suffer the consequences of parents who did not care sufficiently . . . and/or who were seriously ATTACHMENT DISORDERED kids themselves . . . reared by parents who were seriously attachment disordered kids THEMselves . . . etc. etc. etc.
.
Where possible, please support fathers being good fathers in every way you can and every chance you get.
.
I found out from a dear friend this past week, that their 3 adult children did not give them a bit of trouble--not even as teens. That brings probably to about 5 or 6 the number of families I've known who can say that in all my 69 years. Of course, the answer was--secure early attachment and firmly loving, healthily affectionate parenting.
.

Yes! I read about the elephants and the social effects fathers play in the life of young adolescents.

It is very true for all intelligent animals.

a reply to: smirkley

INDEED.

I wonder about dolphins and whales.

Certainly it's true in terms of intelligent animals on land. I wouldn't be surprised if it were true with dolphins and whales.

Pretending that facts are not facts and that truth is not true

does NOT make it so.

a reply to: BO XIAN

S&F

a reply to: BO XIAN

I read a book called the "Life of Pi" There is a quote, or many memorable quotes;

I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go. But what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye. I was never able to thank my father for all I learned from him. To tell him, without his lessons I would never have survived. I know Richard Parker's a tiger but I wish I had said, "It's over. We survived. Thank you for saving my life. I love you, Richard Parker. You'll always be with me

a reply to: PanPiper

Thanks for your kind posts and affirmations.

What have you observed in your life experiences and social network re fathering that relates to the elephant story?