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Introduction. <p>Truth and the Santa Claus Moment (<i>C</i><i>orey Harbaugh</i>).</p> <p>The Last Harvest (<i>R</i><i>andi Perkins</i>).</p> <p>The Dads We Were Given (<i>K</i><i>athy Wells McMenamin</i>).</p> <p>Forgiving My Dad (<i>B</i><i>ryan McGuire</i>).</p> <p>Appreciating the Moment (<i>J</i><i>ay Hasheider</i>).</p> <p>Whistling in the Light (<i>T. A. Barron</i>).</p> <p>Lingering at the Doors (<i>J</i><i>ohn Warley</i>).</p> <p>A Love Beyond Boundaries (<i>B</i><i>rian Schoeni</i>).</p> <p>Hunting Pennies (<i>J</i><i>ames Pfrehm</i>).</p> <p>A Mark in History (<i>R</i><i>osita Choy</i>).</p> <p>Trimming (<i>A</i><i>my Rowland</i>).</p> <p>A Father Is Born from Many Strangers (<i>M</i><i>ichele Weldon</i>).</p> <p>The Cards Will Hear You (<i>E</i><i>ric Larson</i>).</p> <p>Finding a Different Way (<i>B</i><i>ob May</i>).</p> <p>Life Is Wonderfully Ridiculous (<i>C</i><i>laude Knobler</i>).</p> <p>Never Give Up (<i>M</i><i>. C. Hackett</i>).</p> <p>The Choice to Do It Over Again (<i>D</i><i>aniel Flanagan</i>).</p> <p>The Wonders of the Future (<i>S</i><i>cott Shackelford</i>).</p> <p>The Best Legacy I Can Leave (<i>D</i><i>oug Andrews</i>).</p> <p>To Be the Best Humans We Can Be (<i>T</i><i>im Wilson</i>).</p> <p>Work Is a Blessing (<i>L</i><i>ieutenant General Russel Honoré</i>).</p> <p>Hands at Rest (<i>J</i><i>ohn R. Corrigan</i>).</p> <p>The Myths of Manhood (<i>A</i><i>ndrew Riutta</i>).</p> <p>Love with No Limits (<i>S</i><i>cott Zucker</i>).</p> <p>An Ordinary Adventure (<i>D</i><i>avid Lintvedt</i>).</p> <p>My Earthly Father (<i>M</i><i>argo Frazier</i>).</p> <p>The Give-and-Take of Grief (<i>M</i><i>ichael Newland</i>).</p> <p>The Lawn Is Life (<i>G</i><i>reg Vessar</i>).</p> <p>The Bricks in the Wall Around My Heart (<i>J</i><i>udd Pillot</i>).</p> <p>The First Breath (<i>K</i><i>az Sussman</i>).</p> <p>Finding My Father in a Small World (<i>K</i><i>ate Debiec</i>).</p> <p>I Am Capable of More Than I Think I Am (<i>G</i><i>regg Rogers</i>).</p> <p>Teacher (<i>N</i><i>ick Capo</i>).</p> <p>Five Dollars of Forgiveness (<i>D</i><i>aniel Plasman</i>).</p> <p>Nothing New Under the Sun (<i>L</i><i>awrence Newton</i>).</p> <p>Respect Yourself (<i>D</i><i>avid Westwood</i>).</p> <p>Gardens and Their Power to Heal (<i>A</i><i>lison van Diggelen</i>).</p> <p>Embarrassing My Kids (<i>R</i><i>oger Mummert</i>).</p> <p>A Father's Lectures (<i>S</i><i>eth Chalmer</i>).</p> <p>Where the Soul of Man Never Dies (<i>T</i><i>im Barnes</i>).</p> <p>Forgive the Rest (<i>J</i><i>ulie Feeney</i>).</p> <p>His Difference Is His Strength (<i>J</i><i>ames Buchanan</i>).</p> <p>The Power of Fishing (<i>J</i><i>ohnnie Barmore</i>).</p> <p>The Greatest Thing (<i>S</i><i>cott Koonce</i>).</p> <p>Big Thinking (<i>E</i><i>lizabeth Shen</i>).</p> <p>Transforming Fatherhood (<i>A</i><i>dam Kallish</i>).</p> <p>Keep the Tempo Steady (<i>C</i><i>laudette Sikora</i>).</p> <p>A Lesson from My Dad (<i>G</i><i>regory Michael Arndt</i>).</p> <p>Living and Loving Life (<i>K</i><i>eith Wagner</i>).</p> <p>The Best Education in the World (<i>J</i><i>eff Sloan</i>).</p> <p>What It Takes (<i>S</i><i>helby Crowley</i>).</p> <p>With Brown Shoes to Match (<i>B</i><i>rian M. Wise</i>).</p> <p>Forever in Love (<i>G</i><i>reg Wees</i>).</p> <p>My Father, Christ (<i>W</i><i>hitney Alt</i>).</p> <p>Making Choices That Make Me Smile (<i>C</i><i>hristopher Swiecki</i>).</p> <p>The Measure of a Man (<i>S</i><i>usan Cramer</i>).</p> <p>Little Acts of Goodness (<i>H</i><i>oward Miller</i>).</p> <p>Leaving Work to Gaze at Sunsets (<i>L</i><i>aurie Granieri</i>).</p> <p>A Stack of Rocks (<i>R</i><i>on Woolley</i>).</p> <p>When Angels Miss (<i>D</i><i>. John Dyben</i>).</p> <p>Appendix: How to Write Your Own.</p> <p><i>This I Believe</i> Essay.</p> <p>Acknowledgments.</p>

<p>Dan Gediman is executive director of This I Believe, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that engages people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief have been featured on public radio since 2005. Gediman is coeditor of the New York Times best seller This I Believe, as well as This I Believe II and This I Believe: On Love.</p> <p>John Gregory is editorial director and Mary Jo Gediman is outreach director of This I Believe, Inc.</p> <p>To read more essays and submit your own, please visit www.thisibelieve.org.</p>

<p>Excerpts from This I Believe: On Fatherhood</p> <p>"As much as I resisted it, in a way, I became him. People compare me to my father. I'm proud of that. I just had to do some living to see it."—Lawrence Newton, Washington, DC</p> <p>"I'm not 'watching the kids' in my wife's absence, and I am not the stand-in parental unit. Being my boys' father entitles me to all of the benefits and responsibilities of the job, all of the time."—Jeff Sloan, Colorado</p> <p>"I sat there in the dark, surrounded by the soothing sounds and smells of my baby's room, and I thought of how Dad must have felt when I was born. I knew at that moment that he never intended to hurt me. I realized that he loved me just as I loved my son."—Bryan McGuire, Illinois</p> <p>"Pride in achievement. Joy in effort. Work as play. My father never attended college, but he knew these truths. He learned them on the basketball court, and he taught them to me."—Nick Capo, Illinois</p> <p>"No one fills the shoes of a father. But the footprint that the man who fathered them left behind does not have to stay empty."—Michele Weldon, Illinois</p> <p>". . . when I see all three of my kids laughing, when I think about how much less my life would have been if I'd settled for what I thought I'd wanted, I realize I don't much care about the sensible things I once did."—Claude Knobler, California</p> <p>"We sat in silence for the nearly twenty-hour drive. He didn't say much, but he didn't have to. Without a speech, my father lived the lesson he was trying to teach me for so long. He really didn't ever give up—even on me."—M. C. Hackett, Ohio</p>

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