Strength in Wisdom, Not Just in Muscle
Fatherhood is more than leading by example, it’s passing down lessons that shape a child’s heart, mind, and soul. With Father’s Day just around the corner, I remember and honor my father’s wisdom, the strength in his silence, and the lessons he etched into my soul.
When a male child goes through puberty, their body usually changes fast and so does the new, indescribable, and somewhat exciting signals going through their brain, fueled by off-the-chart hormones. When I was a young boy, I saw my father as superhuman strong, and I remember trying to do every workout he did. He was a quite but tough man. A father of four boys, I being the youngest, he knew how puberty effected young men. After getting into my first fist fight, he and I took a short car ride. We talked about a number of things but the conversation he burned into my mind went something like this.
“You must never start any physical confrontation; doing so can get you arrested. (He was a police officer) Never forget, you can be right and still do the wrong thing. If you are forced to fight, and you might have to, you must try to finish it as fast as it started with the same amount of harm you thought they wanted to do to you. Even if you believe you are tough, there will be someone tougher. The better fighter, not always the better or smarter person, will control the way the fight ends.” Later I joined Taekwondo, and I also enrolled my son at an early age. I have never forgotten Dad’s talk and tried to teach my son the same message
He taught me that toughness isn’t about fists, it’s about restraint. That wisdom is the true measure of strength, because you can be right and still do the wrong thing. He knew that a fight, physical or verbal, is never the answer unless there’s no other choice. And when that choice does come, it must be swift, fair, and necessary.
As a father myself, I’ve passed this lesson down to my own son. I’ve reminded him that a strong mind will always outlast strong muscles and that the best fighter isn’t the one who wins, but the one who knows when to walk away.
During this month of the father, let’s celebrate the male role models who teach not just strength but wisdom, not just confidence but humility, not just toughness but kindness.
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary” and “The Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, A Devotional Timeline”