Cheer the Eff Up #5
56 pages / digest / $3 or best offer :-)
Jonas
PO Box
633
Chicago IL 60690
Fathering has become a conundrum in our culture. Or maybe it
always has been. Some of us were raised by emotionally distant, and often
indifferent, fathers (if we had a father at all). As boys we never got what we
needed for masculine connection, guidance and love. A great number of men in
this culture have just given up on being mature, caring, active role models for
children – too distracted by careers, addictions, or their own feelings of
inadequacy and abandonment.
The premise of Cheer
the Eff Up is Jonas writing to his child in the future – in hopes that he
can reveal truths and perspectives to his child, like a time capsule snapshot
of “this is how it is was / is now”. So many children don’t have a clue or
understand their parent’s journeys. Many children (my adultlings for example,
all in their 30s) don’t seem to want
to understand their parents. Yet this is how we grow as human beings – by
embracing our parents for who they are, not by ignoring them, denying them, or
living with some fantasy we have of them as tyrants or saints. There is always
more to our parents than what we think.
You could zero in on any one of the chapters in Cheer the Eff Up and relate to what Jonas
is talking about. I’ve never been to a punk show, for example, but I’ve been to
concerts and events where I’ve been the oldest person in the room by a decade
or more, and eyed with suspicion and curiosity. I’ve struggled with my identity
and found myself at a loss to describe myself. I’ve often wondered what I can
say to my children and grandchildren to help them understand where they came
from, who their father is inside, and the hopes I have for them finding their
own paths.
Cheer the Eff Up is
potent and powerful. Thank you, Jonas.
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