A Father's Day Book (for anyone really)
These are the words of NFL football great, Joe Ehrmann, as recorded by Jeffrey Marx in the book, Season of Life
. It's a fast reading and engaging story primarily about Joe's journey from false masculinity to authentic masculinity... and perhaps most important... how he now is investing his life to help boys become real men.And what's a real man according to Joe?
"Masculinity, first and foremost, ought to be defined in terms of relationships. If you look over your life at the end of it... life wouldn't be measured in terms of success based on what you've acquired or achieved or what you own. The only thing that's really going to matter is the relationships that you had. It's gonna come down to this: What kind of father were you? What kind of husband were you? What kind of coach or teammate were you? What kind of son were you? What kind of brother were you? What kind of friend were you? Success comes in terms of relationships."
"Masculinity, first and foremost, ought to be defined in terms of relationships. If you look over your life at the end of it... life wouldn't be measured in terms of success based on what you've acquired or achieved or what you own. The only thing that's really going to matter is the relationships that you had. It's gonna come down to this: What kind of father were you? What kind of husband were you? What kind of coach or teammate were you? What kind of son were you? What kind of brother were you? What kind of friend were you? Success comes in terms of relationships."
Yet, "The typical male over the age of thirty-five has what psychologist would say is less than one genuine friend, not even one person, on average, with whom he can reveal his true self and share his deepest, most intimate thoughts."
Along the way, we get a front row seat to observe how two coaches (Joe and his friend Biff) not only coach boys to win high school football games (which they do), but most important, how these boys learn how to be real men.
Frankly, this is a book I wished every father would read. Yes, it's aimed at men, fathers, and boys. But I think this book would be a great read for anyone. I absolutely loved it and found it very useful in my adventure of raising a 17-year-old son... not to mention all the training, coaching, and mentoring I'm involved in.
If you're not convinced enough yet to get and read this book, then I suggest you watch this short biographical video HBO Sports did on Joe. It is really well done.
For those of you interested in getting a copy of this book to read or give to others, you can get it here:
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JM