“A week from this Saturday, I’ll take you on a fishing trip.”

Excitedly the boy began to plan for that day. He gathered all the fishing gear and made a list of all the other things he would need. He mowed a neighbor’s lawn, and with the money, he bought equipment for the trip.

He could hardly wait for the day to arrive. By Friday night, he had everything packed, ready to go first thing in the morning.

Early the next morning the phone rang. It was the director of one of the organizations to which his father belonged. The director reported that the man who was to assume certain responsibilities that day was sick, and he asked if the father could take his place.

After a few moments of Silence, the boy heard his father answer, ” I think I can. I’ll be right there.”

In the rush of his regular work and all the other responsibilities, the father had forgotten about the fishing trip he had promised to his son. This was just another Saturday to him in which he could catch up on odds and ends around the house. When the call came, he decided that the need of the organization was more important than the things at home. He quickly got dressed skipped, breakfast, and drove off.

As his son began to realize that the things he had anticipated would not come true, he found it hard to hold back the tears. He could have reminded his father about the day, but he decided instead that his father was too busy for him. This wasn’t an isolated event. it had happened before. 

With a broken heart, he unpacked all the equipment he was to use that day.   That night when his father returned home, and in the days following, the boy found that he could not respond to his father the way he used to. 

In the following years, the inner conflicts and the visible symptoms the boy developed were visible.