Men Who "Father" and Fathers Who Are Men

by Carl E. Olson | CWR Blog

When men fail to take responsibility for their actions, the most vulnerable usually pay the heavy cost


When
I first saw headlines
last week about the death of NFL's star Adrian Peterson's young
son, I was shocked. And then I was confused.

Shocked,
because the two-year-old boy, Ty, had been viciously beaten by a man
apparently responsible for watching the child. It was an act of evil,
pure and simple. Confused, because the relationships between the
various parties was not clear. Quite the contrary.

Joseph
Patterson, the man since charged with two felony counts of aggravated
battery of an infant and aggravated assault domestic, was the live-in
boyfriend of Ty's mother. They lived in South Dakota; Peterson, of
course, lives in Minnesota, where he is the record-chasing running
back for the Vikings.

Had
Peterson been married to the mother? No. Peterson has never been
married. In fact, it turns out that Peterson was not even aware of
the boy's existence until a couple of months ago, and he had not seen
Ty in person prior to the beating. Peterson, however, is engaged, and
he has two children living with him, one of whom is also two years
old,
according
to the New York Times.
And:

Peterson
said he offered financial support for Ty and Ty’s mother after he
learned he was the boy’s father. He was arranging to go to Sioux
Falls when the boy was injured on Oct. 9. Peterson skipped practice
on Oct. 10 to visit Ty in the hospital, the only time he saw him
alive. The next day, with Peterson back at practice, Ty died after he
was taken off life support.

The
various stories posted on ESPN.com and other sports-related sites
provided the basic facts of the story as they came available, but the
focus of many pieces—and especially of television commentary—was
on whether or not Peterson would play in the Vikings' next game. And,
if so, how would he do? And so forth. Among the most interesting set
of quotes were these, in the Times story:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.