A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

In the heat of politics we often do not stop and give credit to the other person.  I came across a picture of the Obamas and thought, what contribution is the president making to families particularly African American families.  We are often bombarded with the statistics of broken families, single parents, deadbeat dads, and the list keeps growing, that it seem to say the importance of the church and the family is lost.   It would seem that men do not care for their families any more.  While I am not endorsing the president’s policies, I just wondered what are the pictures of him and his family conveying to us?

While we do not know all that happens between the president and his family, it is good not to hear about any secret affairs, or past sexual misconducts.  It is refreshing to hear of his involvement in his daughters’ lives.  It is good to see him on vacation with his family.  It is good to hear him talking about his daughters’ future plans.  It is good to see him taking his wife to various celebrations and dates.  It is truly refreshing to see the president and his family going to church.  We need to highlight more role models like the president.  Politics aside, what is this picture saying?  And what can this picture say?

We have been bombarded with images that do not reflect positively on the family.  These pictures are the first to make it on the front pages of the newspapers and headline the news reports.  Why haven’t there been a real discussion on the contributions of the family and the church on our culture and what the future would look like if we keep devaluing these pillars?

We always hear of those that are devoicing but rarely those who have celebrated many years of marriage.   It is sad that the good things are blacklisted and the bad is embraced.

I am deliberately ignoring everything else about the president and in the spirit of Black History month focusing on what a picture can do and say, a picture or pictures of the first family.  A picture is worth a thousand words, rings true in this situation.  Not just this one still picture, but also, all the pictures of the president with his family.  What doses a picture of a happy African American family says?  What are young boys learning from these pictures of the president and his family?  Who is willing to lay politics aside and give credit where credit is due?

As we celebrate Black History month we should remind ourselves of the importance that the family and the church played in the lives of our forefathers.  Weather they were in slavery or free men, the family and the church were the core components that kept them alive and hopeful.  The posterity of their legacy rested on these pillars.  If we continue to devalue these two pillars of our culture then the future is not bright, our posterity is in question.

Let us begin today to place first things first.  Children should be a product of a married relationship (I am conscious that there are circumstances that may cause this to not always be true, resulting in single parent families), a woman and a man.  But whatever is your situation; stand up to your responsibilities.

Young men stop having kids out of wedlock.  Accept your responsibilities and stop relying on the courts to direct you how to take care of your responsibilities.  Young women stop settling and expect more from the man that wants to be intimate with you.

Those that are trying and doing the right thing by owning up to your responsibilities, those that are not sleeping around with whomever, those that are preserving the value of the family and those that are striving for excellence, you are not alone.  I implore you to keep doing the right thing.

I pray that politics do not hide the impact that the Obamas could have on the family especially African Americans families.  Politics aside, Mr. President thanks for modeling the family.