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In turn, he offered some wise words for both the young men and the young women present in his audience.

“As men, we set the tone of the culture,” Butker urged. “And when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos… plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”

His solution?

“Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don’t necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better.”

Butker’s advice for the women present is what drew particular ire. After congratulating the graduates, he observed that, though many of them would go on to lead successful careers, the majority of them would be more excited about being married and having children in the future.

And he reflected on his own life and marriage as evidence of this fact:

I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.

I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me. But it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.

She’s a primary educator to our children. She’s the one who ensures I never let football or my business become a distraction from that of a husband and father. She’s the person that knows me best at my core.

I Agree With Harrison Butker

As a husband and father, I couldn’t agree more with Harrison Butker—whether on leadership, cultural chaos, masculinity, responsibility, and men and women’s complementary roles as husbands and wives.

With a beautiful 10-month-old daughter, I can say that one of my biggest lessons has been the role I play as a provider, protector, and emotional rock in my family. I don’t always succeed at it, but I have caught the vision of which Butker speaks.

I don’t consider myself particularly traditional when it comes to the roles of men and women in modern society. Case in point: When my wife and I talk about her working part-time to supplement my income during these tough financial times, it is generally me encouraging her to consider it, and her waxing lyrical about her calling as a stay-at-home mother.

I’m happy either way. But our conversations prove the point that Butker makes—that a love of homemaking is an innate trait in women that our culture has tried, but still largely failed, to expunge from their hearts.

Like Butker, I am beyond blessed by the role my wife plays in the home. And becoming a father has brought into sharp relief so many of the culture-wide issues he has raised. I no longer view the existential threats facing the West as fodder for argument. They are my battlefield since they will determine what kind of future my daughter will inherit.

Butker is correct in observing that the Christian faith “has always been countercultural.” Indeed, it is this quality that has enabled the values inherited by Western culture to endure despite the rise and fall of countless empires.

May we be the men to preserve those values.

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Republished with thanks to Intellectual Takeout. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.