Imagine yourself, an 18 year-old boy, on the cusp of adulthood. You’ve survived your childhood by only one year, but by society’s standards you are a fully-fledged, grown-up citizen. And with the freedom of maturity comes the burden of responsibility. For one young man, his journey begins now.
In the story from Elite Readers, we witness a boy transcend into adulthood by first admitting his wrongdoings.
Read the story below.
I’m a general manager at a car dealership. When my daughter was 17 she went to a party. At that party she met a man, whom she had sex with and got pregnant. After we found out she didn’t tell us who the father was. When one Sunday afternoon many months into my daughters pregnancy I’m sitting outside enjoying the view and an iced tea when this old pick-up truck pulls up.
A young man jumps out of it. Now for the purpose of the story let’s say my daughter’s name is Stacy. This young man approaches me and says, “Are you Stacy’s dad?” I look up and say, “Yes I am, are you here to see her?”
He goes, “no sir I’m here to talk to you, can I sit down?” I said sure, he explained himself an 18 yr old boy just finished high school not very book smart with no real future. I had a hunch where this was going. He then said, “I understand Stacy is pregnant.”
I go, “yes she is.”
He said, “I’m the father.”
I replied, “Figured as much, so what’s going on?”
He said “well, I don’t love your daughter and shouldn’t have done what I did. However I’m soon to become a father without a good income. I know you run multiple car dealerships and one can make good money selling cars. I want to come work for you so I can make enough money to support my child and be a good father.”
I looked at him and said, “What kind of work would you want to do at one of my dealerships?”
He said, “I want to sell cars, I want to be a sales man. I hear you don’t need a degree and if you are willing to work long and hard hours you can make good money.”
I nodded and said, “Yes you can.” I then said “Now son you got some balls coming over here telling me you got my daughter pregnant when you don’t even love her and then asking for a job.”
He then said, “I figured this was my best option of finding a job to make enough money to support my kid.”
I said, “I want you to be at my dealership tomorrow in your Sunday best at 8 AM, do you understand?”
He said “Yes sir.”
I said “Now go, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
That was a good 10 years ago. He’s now a store manager and one of the best hires I ever made. He is also an awesome father of 2 now (he met and married another woman and had a child with her). He shares custody with my daughter. Now I’m not saying he didn’t make a mistake, and I’m not saying that their situation is ideal. But what I can say is that I admire the hell out of that young man for owning up to his responsibilities and being a real father. I know there are a lot of men out there who would not have done the same.
As children, we were taught morals. We were read fables about what happens to little boys who don’t tell the truth. We learned right from wrong. Sadly, a surprising number of adults seem to have forgotten these deeply ingrained lessons we learned as kids.
This boy from our story did made a mistake. But the honest young lad not only owned up to it, he tried to right his wrongs.
And that makes him an adult, indeed.
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