Father’s Day is for Fathers
While this article isn’t purely political commentary, it is politically motivated. Personal responsibility is becoming all too rare these days. We must not turn a blind eye nor find entertainment value in deadbeat fathers; they are a blight on society and when we turn a blind eye on this behavior we all suffer.
You’ll likely never come across another person who so utterly demonstrates the collapse of morals and irresponsible behavior than Tennessee resident Desmond Hatchett. Hatchett holds the record for his ability to father children with women he is not married to.
At the relatively young age of 33 Hatchett has managed to father 30 children with 11 women.
Hatchett received public attention in 2009 after the birth of his twenty-first child, vowing in a television interview that he wouldn’t father any more children; apparently that pledge is on par with the rest of Hatchett’s morals as the fathering-fest continued unabated producing 9 more children in just the last three years.
Hatchett is once again getting media attention because he’s back in court, a place he’s all too familiar with, to ask for help with his child-support payments because he’s struggling to make ends meet on his minimum wage job. Hatchett’s initial media exposure occurred after a court appearance in 2009 as a deadbeat father failing to make his support payments.
While our laws may be able to require individuals to pay support for children they produce, we have no laws that can force irresponsible fathers to keep their pants on.
If Hatchett’s personal behavior isn’t nauseating enough, apparently he takes pride in his ability to reproduce. In a television interview Hatchett boasted, “I had four kids in the same year. Twice.”
“It wasn’t intentional. It just happened.”
No Mr. Hatchett, it doesn’t just happen. You are a morally vacant shell of a man who while equipped to reproduce knows nothing about fatherhood. You have nothing positive to offer either your children or society. We put people in prison for one bad judgment and you receive media attention for producing 30 children who will never know what a real father is. Pitiful.
Hatchett is now telling the court that he cannot support “any” of his children and wants the state to support them.
When Hatchett is working, and there’s no evidence as to how much of that he actually does, he is required to turn over 50 percent of his wages for child support, the maximum allowed under law.
Some of the mothers of Hatchett’s children get only $1.49 a month according to WREG in Memphis. Most people wouldn’t even bother to cash a check for $1.49.
We cannot put Hatchett in prison; but he should receive public ridicule, not television coverage. We should change our laws so we can do something about fathers like Hatchett, compelling them to genuinely act as a father and care for their offspring; a court order to change diapers, wash floors, fix meals, mow the mother’s lawns or anything else that could help these children and women seems far more fitting than a local news interview; courts have this authority and perhaps it would send a message to other deadbeat fathers.
Father’s Day is just around the corner and we should celebrate real fathers; Mr. Hatchett is nothing more than a sperm donor.