A boy doesn't truly become a man until he steps out of the shadow of his father to become his own man in his own right - unless his father was absent, in which case his graduation to manhood comes from becoming a competent, discerning and stable man without the guidance of a man.
A father's task in relation to his son is to make himself obsolete. Effectively, he is training his replacement. If he commits to this task and performs it well, his son will be competent without resenting him, and self-assured without feeling inferior to his father.
In this life, there are trade-offs. The boy with an absent father has no shadow to step out of, but also has nobody to help him. The boy with a truly great man for a father has the most formidable shadow to step out of, but also a great mentor to aid in his ascension.
In matters of ego, the father should not see the son as an usurping threat to his power. The son is an extension of the father, but with his own individuality. Not a clone, but an iteration. The son should not see the father as his rival, but as a mentor who's sacrificed for him.
You begin life as a son, transition into being both father and son, and leave this life as a father.

Each stage governs your behaviour, the latter two unlocking fresh insights. Becoming a father helps you understand your father. Losing him sees you alone, like the bastard boys.
As a son, you are an apprentice. As a father who is also a son, you're a master under the tutelage of a master. Fresh appreciation for your fathers ways and novel insight fill you as find yourself in the role he was with you and your mother. When he dies, you remain as his echo.
A father is a man's best friend.

It should thus be every man's wish to produce and cultivate a son better than he is.

The ultimate legacy is not to be the best, but to create the best.

Only then can he finally enjoy a well earned peace, resting in the thereafter.
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