Where Are All The MEN?

Three scenarios:
1.) I had Valentine's alone at an Outback in Atlanta. Being a big date night, I had to eat at the bar. A guy next to me, who was an obvious regular, was having a conversation with Stacey the bartender. I was half paying attention when their conversation turned to the night and something about fighting for her. She made the comment "well, maybe my son will fight for me, but..." and her voice trailed off.
2.) Without naming names, a friend of a friend has been involved in a tragic situation involving a collegiate coach that is verbally abusive to his female atheletes. As the women have begun to request intervention on their behalf, the following events have happened.
- A father of one of the girls, who holds a high national position in a religious establishment, has refused to support his daughter because of his reputation.
- The head of the athletic department has said "there can't be a problem, the coaches teams win!"
- It's been discovered that some former students have had to go to therapy to work through the trama from years past.
- A mother of one of the girls, with full support of the dad, has asked her daughter "why are you doing this to him, do you want to ruin his career?" The parents are also extremely concerned with their reputations.
- This same girl has since convinced the girls to lie and say nothing happened.
- The coach was suspended with pay for 6 months, but then was fully reinstated after a week.
- Other faculty have stated that this has been going on for years.
3) In looking around, I'm struck with the amazingly high number of single moms on MySpace.

So I ask you, where are the MEN?

Why is it that a woman can count on her young son to defend her, but not an adult. Why are fathers unwilling to lay their lives - in the form of reputations - on the line for the protection of their daughter's hearts. And why do men freak at the birth of their children and leave?

There are a myriad of reasons, but the one on my heart tonight is the absense of truly masculine role models. As a society, we do not honor husbands, fathers and workers, and we don't do any better in today's churches. So instead of men who know their calling in life is to passionatly love their wives, devote themselves to their children and agressively apply themselves to work, we have a generation that struggles to get by without the world discovering that they are unaware of what it is they should be doing, and scared that they're probably unprepared for it anyway.

It's tragic.