Young boys, older boys, need older male role models to guide and mentor them to balanced and healthy manhood. To a place where they know who they are, and how to be the man they want to be.  It starts with little boys, and those who manifest in their lives as healthy, nurturing, role models…

I think this is why I love this song from Australian musician John Williamson, “Old Man Verandah”, because it talks about not only the need for a young boy to have a man he can look up to, but it also honours and values the experience of an older man, rather than just dismissing him as an old and worn-out war vet.

Old Man Verandah – by John Williamson

An old digger in an armchair
Through purple jacaranda
All alone with slippers on his feet
His loves have all gone North
To live in New South Wales
And his tired eyes
don’t focus on the street

Would he be my Grandpa?
I wonder would he mind
He could take me fishin’, oh, oh,
And I could pick his apricots
And put ’em in a tin
But he probably doesn’t like me

Hey old man verandah
Can’t you see the boy
Throwin’ stones so bored
and so lonely
He might break a window
But he might break your heart
‘Cause he might be a world
for you to love

Would he be my Grandpa?
I wonder would he mind
He could take me drivin’
in his Humber
and maybe he could teach me
how to shoot a gun
Andhow to skin a rabbit

Hey old man verandah
Can’t you hear the boy
Rattlin’ pickets just for
your attention
He could do a lot for you
You’d do a lot for him
‘Cause he might be a world
for you to love

It’s just another lonely picture
You can hang it on the wall
On Sunday they still gather
on the lawn
The peppercorns are older
but no-one seems much wiser
They sent the boy to fight
the Asian war

1988 – John Williamson