Fathers and daughters

I traveled to Baltimore a short while back to attend a leadership conference. The meeting was attended by both business and church leaders. I learned a lot about teambuilding. It was good. But not as good as the people I met while being there.

Sitting in the row in front of me were a group of men of quite large stature, deacons in an African Methodist Episcopal Church. They were delightful. These brothers in Christ serve faithfully in an environment that is distinctive. They must deal with the attitudes and troubles that often accompany low income, urban areas; high crime rates, illegal activities and broken families.

One of these men, Demitri Kornegay, (a police lieutenant with the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland), wrote a wonderful book titled, Dear Rhonda, life lessons from a father to his daughter” (Villard Publishers, 2002, $12.95).

This short book is essentially letters from him to his teenage daughter. His letters express what he wants his daughter to know about life and how to tackle various problems and situations that regularly happen to daughters in the process of becoming an adult.

There are situations that are mentioned in his letters that you may not have to deal with, (culturally distinct attitudes particularly regarding race), there are also nuggets of great wisdom we can all learn from.

Romance is like a traffic accident; the slower you go, the less damage you do.

Your reputation may proceed you, make sure it is a good thing.

If you want to make a friend, be a friend, but not to much too soon. Trust, love and respect are things that must be earned.

This is a book fathers should read. It will encourage them to keep the lines of communication open and to let their daughters know the important things in life. I will not be giving my daughters copies of the book as I first planned. The book has motivated me. My own letters will be of much greater value.