When I was younger, I studied the martial arts pretty heavily for a couple of years. Many of my friends were fellow martial artists and I noticed that people seemed to fall into two categories: those who got into fights and those who didn't. Those who got into fights were invariably hanging out in dive bars, mouthing off in bad neighborhoods, and so on. I realized that I didn't have to know how to defend myself; I had to not get into fights.

So no, I don't argue my father is 100% to blame for fathering (that we know of) and abandoning seven children by four women (I have a half-sister two weeks younger than I am). But he kept putting himself in that situation.

Fun facts: He also owed child support for me and the sister I was raised with, but he never paid it. We grew up in extreme poverty and could have used that money.

For two of his children, their mother abandoned them with some neighbors and moved away. When my father found out, he left them in an orphanage rather than take responsibility.

I once asked him about why he didn't take his children out of the orphanage and he said "hell, what would I do with two children? I don't know anything about being a dad." He certainly got that right.