Most of the time, Twitter’s a wasteland, a dark world of rancor, recriminations, and moral posturing. But every once in a while, to quote the classic movie Dumb and Dumber, it goes and redeems itself… 

Anthony Bradley, professor at The King’s College in New York, recently noted on Twitter that most father/son photos on social media are of younger sons. It’s like they stop once the boy hits teenage years, the time when a father’s influence becomes most crucial in a young man’s development.  

So he challenged dads to celebrate their teenage sons by posting photos with the hashtag #ThisIsMyBelovedTeenageSon. And proud dads, from all walks of life, did, proudly posing with their sons for all the world to see.  

Good for them. Popular culture portrays fathers in such diminished, negative ways, but studies consistently show not only that dads matter, but that they’re essential for flourishing. The full family of mom and dad is part of God’s blessing to people everywhere.