Take a moment to thank the father figure in your life. You don't know what he's dealing with.

When my coworkers asked me to write a Father's Day column, I hesitated. I have no advice to offer and have been struggling with a fear of failing my son for 10 years now. Not really having a good example made it so I just don't know what a father is supposed to do. 

That's it, I thought. That's the column. Now I just had to write it in a pool of self-reflection. Thank you for reading it

- Louie 

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My childhood left me angry and afraid. My son is helping me find peace.

There is anger inside me that I thought would go away by now. I tried to drink it away. I tried to smoke it away. I even tried to pray it away.

It's still there. It's still yelling at me. It's still mocking me. Over the years I’ve managed to live with it without being totally controlled by it. 

But it’s always there. 

Being my father's son left me with a hole I tried to fill. Perhaps it was growing up the son of an addict. Or maybe it was just growing up without a father figure in general. But I’ve come to the realization that after a life of shrugging it away, I’m angry about it and always have been. (READ MORE)

The Father's Day columns you'll want to read today 

• On a college visit with my son it hit me: He's leaving. He's ready. And I'm not.
• On Father's Day, I think of my murdered son. Change gun laws so no other dad feels like me.
• My father's death revealed unspoken memories from an unsettled American story