I don't play the game of golf. In fact, the last time my clubs were out of the basement was over 20 years ago. While I was playing or attempting a reasonable facsimile thereof, two thoughts came to me:

1. I really didn't like myself while I was playing golf. More accurately, let's say that I didn't like the way I behaved when I was playing golf. My vocabulary took on proportions that simply were not becoming to my profession.
2. To play the game of golf well, one has to play it frequently. I realized that I did not have the time, energy, interest, or money to play golf as often as I needed to play the game well. So, I put my clubs in the basement and ended up selling them in a garage sale a few years ago.

June is the month during which we observe Father's Day. My suspicion is that, as with many chaplains, so it is with male law enforcement personnel: we find it difficult to be good fathers. Interestingly enough, Father's Day is the one day of the year on which the most collect phone calls are made. What does that tell us? In this month's column, I'd like to propose some of my mulligans of fatherhood.

I have been a father for 26 years. How I wish that I could have done things differently! At the outset, I acknowledge that many in the law enforcement community are women. I offer my apologies with a promise to do better the next time I am able to write a column for Officer.com. Still, if there is anything pertinent or of value in this column for women as well as men, I'll be grateful.

The first mulligan I would take is that I would have been much more intentional about being open with our sons concerning my faith and my values. We live in a culture that mitigates this. The prevailing message we get is, "As long as you believe something, it's all right." Or, "I don't have any right to impose my values upon someone else." Quite frankly, I don't buy it. One of our principal responsibilities as fathers is to discipline our children, teach our children and show them "the way." One of the simple axioms of life is this: we cannot give our children what we ourselves do not possess. Build your own faith, convictions and values and then pass them along to your children.