Welcome to The Pixel Project’s “30 For 30″ Father’s Day Campaign 2018! In honour of Father’s Day, we created this campaign:
- To acknowledge the vital role dads play in families, cultures and communities worldwide.
- To showcase men from different walks of life who are fabulous positive non-violent and non-sexist male role models.
- To provide dads worldwide a positive platform to share ideas about stopping sexism, misogyny, and violence against women and girls.
This is our 6th annual 30 For 30 campaign and through it we will be publishing interviews with dads from across the world throughout the month of June.
Our fourth “30 For 30″ 2018 Dad is Bob Owens from the USA.
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The Dad Bio
Rev Bob Owens is a retired Presbyterian (USA) minister. He was senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu for 17 years. He has also served churches in England, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas and California. Other than his ministry, Bob’s greatest joy comes from his marriage of 65 years to Norma, with whom he has traveled the globe, and their five children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Bob’s hobbies include doing magic tricks, painting, decorating dried gourds and painting handcrafted boomerangs his son Robert makes. Bob and his daughter Julie Owens survived a brutal assault by Julie’s estranged husband when she filed for divorce in 1988. Since that time, the two have spoken nationally and written extensively about domestic violence and the church’s need to respond appropriately. Pastor Bob’s weekly blog can be found at https://pastorbobblog.com/ To hear a sermon he delivered on domestic violence, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2oXNi0UST8
1. What is the best thing about being a dad?
Experiencing the joys and fulfilling the responsibilities of parenting, modeling the kind of manhood that includes living considerately with my wife, demonstrating unconditional love, consistent faithfulness, gentleness and strength under control, and earning the respect and honour of those nearest and dearest to me who have made me so happy, grateful, and proud to be a dad.
2. A dad is usually the first male role model in a person’s life and fathers do have a significant impact on their sons’ attitude towards women and girls. How has your father (or father figure) influenced the way you see and treat women and girls?
Although my parents divorced when I was only five years old, my father’s example as a man who was not embarrassed to unwrap his emotions (hugging and kissing me even as an adult, doing the same with my stepmother in the presence of others) helped to make me a better husband and father.
However, his failure as a young man to be loyal to my mother made me even more determined to be a devoted and faithful husband, a man who honours his wife, supports his family, and maintains a marriage that endures and inspires others.
3. Communities and activists worldwide are starting to recognise that violence against women is not a “women’s issue” but a human rights issue and that men play a role in stopping the violence. How do you think fathers and other male role models can help get young men and boys to take an interest in and step up to help prevent and stop violence against women?
By speaking out rather than remaining silent; by taking an active part in supporting women who are victims of abuse; by confronting their abusers and holding them accountable, both in the vocations of our common life and in our faith communities; and by proclaiming and promoting gender equality and enlisting other men – especially those in positions of leadership – to join the good fight to end all forms of violence against girls and women of all ages caused by male domination, subjugation, and humiliation.