By Tom Bartley

I have shared this story before in this column, and it always generates a lot of interest and comments. I call it “The Elephant Story,” and I think it is a wonderful allegory of the importance of fathers in their children’s lives.

A few years ago in Kruger National Park in Africa, the park rangers were faced with a problem. The elephant population in the park had grown so large that the herd had to be reduced. Helicopters were to be used to airlift some of the elephants to other wildlife preserves. However, a problem arose as the plan was being implemented. The larger adult male elephants were too big and heavy for the helicopters to lift. Therefore, only the juvenile and female elephants were lifted out.

In the elephants’ new home, white rhinos started turning up dead. Poachers were suspected, so the rangers put up hidden cameras to catch the poachers on film. What they found instead was astonishing. The culprits were gangs of young male elephants that were chasing the rhinos, knocking them down, and goring them to death. Such aggressive, bizarre behavior is unheard of in elephants. The rangers finally decided that the violent behavior exhibited by the young male elephants was attributable to the following reason. Under normal circumstances, the dominant adult male elephants keep the younger ones in line and under control. However, because of their large size and weight, the adult bulls had not been brought into the new park. Therefore, the juvenile elephants had gotten out of control. So, to rectify this situation, the rangers brought in a number of adult bull elephants; and, sure enough, within just a few weeks, the aggressive, acting-out behavior on the part of the young males completely stopped!

It does not take much imagination to transfer this story to humans. Tonight, nearly four out of 10 children will go to sleep in a home in which their father does not live. In many others, even though the father is in the home, he is emotionally absent. This disturbing fact contributes to nearly every social pathology of our time, including crime, drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, high school dropouts, emotional and behavioral problems and welfare dependency.

Fatherless sons are more than twice as likely to engage in some kind of criminal activity. More than 70 percent of all juveniles in state reform institutions come from fatherless homes. Seventy-two percent of adolescent murderers grew up in fatherless homes. Fatherless sons are 10 times more likely to commit rape. Seventy-one percent of pregnant teens come from fatherless homes. Seventy-one percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. Unfortunately, many fathers today are missing from the lives of children who, like the young elephants, are trying to figure out how a man is supposed to behave. And research also shows that fathers are equally important in the lives of their daughters.

The park rangers solved their problem by bringing in adult male elephants. There’s a lesson there for us.

Tom Bartley is a retired educator and currently is the Director of Success By 6 at the Family Support Council, 1529 Waring Road. He can be reached at P.O. Box 1707, Dalton, GA 30722; fax # (706) 275-6542; or [email protected]. For a copy of this article and more information about the Family Support Council, visit www.familysupportcouncil.org.