All my friends are bastards...

And most of my siblings are, too.

It's sad, but true. Most of my friends and siblings either don't know, or spent most of their childhood with negligent or non-existent fathers.

And I think it's the downfall of our society.

Not to say bastards are always messed up. Or that those of us with fathers have it all good (my father's other daughter, for example, tops the list of screw-ups). I'm just saying... I can think of a lot of people who seem to find trouble everywhere they go, and most of them, coincidentally, are fatherless.

Allow me to introduce exhibit A: my friend, we will call her Nameless. Nameless knew her father growing up; infact, he practically lived up the street. But let's face it, he was... careless. Without going into too much detail, we'll just say he always found some way to screw things up. Nameless' mom did the best she could as a single parent, but a girl needs a father, if anything just to tell her he loves her and she's beautiful so she doesn't go looking for it elsewhere when she grows up. We were already grown by the time Nameless' dad got his act together. And while he's cool now, the damage has already been done.

Nameless has pretty much spent the past 4 or so years, dealing with the scum of the earth... we'll call him Peanut Butter & Jelly. PB&J is synonymous with, I dunno, the first thought that comes to my mind is that gum/trash mixture that gets stuck on the bottom of your shoe, that it seems like the more you try to remove it, the messier it gets, and eventually you figure it's better just to cut off your foot than to spend another second dealing with that mess. Yes, that's Peanut Butter & Jelly. Anyways, no matter what he does, no matter how many times she catches him with another woman, or two, or three, she just keeps going back to him. And the only explanation for this masochism I can come up with is that she really doesn't think highly enough of herself to believe she actually deserves better than the scum of the earth. Which is sad. Because Nameless is beautiful, intelligent, loving, and kind. She deserves eons more than him. She could saw her entire leg off and still be better off.

But the bastards... they never know their own worth.

Nameless is just one example. Every time I see a woman in some degrading music video, porno, prostitute, crackhead, or in an emotionally or physically abusive relationship... Every man I see dealing drugs, in jail, cracked out, a drop out, or emotionally or physically abusing women, I think... Bastard.

It's a shame. Single mothers, I got nothing but love for what you do. Shoot, I might even end up a single mother one day, too. But the truth is, children need their fathers. The best single mother in the world still doesn't compare to a stable two-parent environment. Men need to step up. People are screwed up enough as it is to go adding to it by being a sperm donor.

Man up and be a father.

And to those of you who are already bastards... please, WAKE UP. Realize your worth. Men and women, don't let your sperm donor dictate what you become in life. Be better than him. The best way to pay him back for all he's done to hurt you is to do just fine without him...

You most of all, Nameless.