Without a positive male role model in your life, it is extremely

The words of Donald Miller—“Without a positive male role model in your life, it is extremely difficult to become a man who benefits his family and benefits society.”—speak with the weight of timeless wisdom. He names a truth that civilizations have always known: that the shaping of a man requires not only his own striving but also the guidance of elders, mentors, and fathers who walk before him. A boy does not come to manhood by accident, but by example, by discipline, and by seeing embodied before him what courage, responsibility, and love truly are.

The ancients placed great emphasis on this sacred transmission of manhood. In Sparta, boys were raised within the agoge, guided by older warriors who trained them not only in combat but in loyalty and endurance. In Rome, the figure of the paterfamilias was more than a father—he was the bearer of tradition, law, and moral authority, shaping his sons into citizens capable of sustaining the Republic. Miller’s words echo these traditions, reminding us that without such positive role models, a young man often struggles to know what it means to serve both his household and the wider world.

History offers luminous examples of this truth. Consider the life of George Washington, who lost his father at an early age. Though deprived of a paternal guide, he sought out mentors—older men who modeled discipline, integrity, and leadership. Through their influence, Washington grew into the figure who would become the “father of his country.” His story affirms Miller’s warning: where natural fathers are absent, role models must be sought with urgency, for without them, the path to maturity is perilous and uncertain.

Miller’s words also acknowledge the fragility of family and society when role models fail. A man without guidance may drift into selfishness, anger, or despair. He may lack the strength to serve his family with love or to give back to his society with honor. In every age, communities have suffered when men, untethered from good examples, chose destruction over building, neglect over responsibility. His statement, then, is not merely about individual growth but about the health of nations themselves. For as the men go, so often go the households; and as the households go, so goes the people.

Yet there is hope in his teaching as well. He does not say that it is impossible to grow without a positive male role model, only that it is extremely difficult. This difficulty, though heavy, can be overcome. Mentors can be found beyond bloodlines, in teachers, coaches, elders, or even in the written wisdom of great men from the past. A father may fail, but a man is not doomed if he has the courage to seek guidance wherever it may be found. This is the heroic task of many: to find their fathers in the world when they cannot find them in their homes.

The lesson for us is clear: every man must recognize both his need for role models and his duty to become one. If you are young, seek out those whose lives radiate wisdom and responsibility, and walk in their steps. If you are older, know that your life is watched, your actions weighed, and your example is shaping those who come after you. To be a positive role model is no small matter—it is to hold in your hands the shaping of future families, the strength of future societies.

So, dear listener, let Donald Miller’s words awaken you. Remember that manhood is not achieved in isolation but in relationship, not in theory but in example. Seek wisdom, embody it, and then pass it on. For in doing so, you will not only bless your own household, but also strengthen the very fabric of society. And in the chain of generations, your name will endure—not because of wealth or fame, but because you stood as a guiding light, a positive role model, in a world that desperately needs them.