【正文】 t my children will give me the benefit of the doubt. that they will say to themselves: amp。quot。our daddy did the best he could, given the unique circumstances that he faced. he may not have been perfect, but he was a warm and decent man, who tried to give us all the love in the world.amp。quot。
　　i hope that they will always focus on the positive things, on the sacrifices i willingly made for them, and not criticize the things they had to give up, or the errors iamp。39。ve made, and will certainly continue to make, in raising them. for we have all been someoneamp。39。s child, and we know that despite the very best of plans and efforts, mistakes will always occur. thatamp。39。s just being human.
　　and when i think about this, of how i hope that my children will not judge me unkindly, and will forgive my shortings, i am forced to think of my own father and despite my earlier denials, i am forced to admit that me must have loved me. he did love me, and i know that.
　　there were little things that showed it. when i was a kid i had a real sweet tooth amp。ndash。 we all did. my favorite food was glazed doughnuts and my father knew that. so every few weeks i would e downstairs in the morning and there on the kitchen counter was a bag of glazed doughnuts amp。ndash。 no note, no explanation amp。ndash。 just the doughnuts. it was like santa claus.
　　sometimes i would think about staying up late at night, so i could see him leave them there, but just like with santa claus, i didnamp。39。t want to ruin the magic for fear that he would never do it again. my father had to leave them secretly at night, so as no one might catch him with his guard down. he was scared of human emotion, he didnamp。39。t understand it or know how to deal with it. but he did know doughnuts.
　　and when i allow the floodgates to open up, there are other memories that e rushing back, memories of other tiny gestures, however imperfect, that showed that he did what he could. so tonight, rather than focusing on what my father didnamp。39。t do, i want to focus on all the things he did do and on his own personal challenges. i want to stop judging him.
　　i have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the south, in a very poor family. he came of age during the depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the south, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to bee a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate. i was the first black artist to be played on mtv and i remember how big a deal it was even then. and that was in the 80s!
　　my father moved to indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. is it any wonder that he found it difficult to expose his feelings? is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? and most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?
　　i have begun to see that even my fatheramp。39。s harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. he pushed me because he loved me. because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
　　and now with time, rather than bitterness, i feel blessing. in the place of anger, i have found absolution. and in the place of revenge i have found reconciliation. and my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.
　　almost a decade ago, i founded a charity called heal the world. the tit