The Importance of Father's Day

  Today is Father’s Day and for some reason we tend not to celebrate it like we do Mother’s Day. Yes, we reconize the day and some of us may even take our dad’s out to lunch or dinner. However, that being said for most it goes unnoticed. My question is why? Sure there are dead beat dad’s who just faded away after producing a child, in my arena they are known as “sperm donors.” They are not worth even discussing. Yes, there are those men who claim to be fathers but for whatever reason, they are not. Either they are abusive to their wives, children or signifcant others or they are just indifferent but yet still live in the household. I am not talking about these men either.

    I am talking about the real fathers who took a child and trained it in the way it should go, no not to a life of crime, lies and deceit. But to a life of productive, caring and useful service to themselves and others.

   The father’s I am talking about are those who sacrifice for the ones they love. It doesn’t even have to be a blood father. It can be a stepfather who took another’s responsiblity on because he cared enough. It can be a father who has mentored a child because he cared enough. These men gave all. They loved without condition and they gave without condition. True father’s love their children no matter what, they provide for their children no matter what, and they love their children’s mother no matter what. That is what makes a child well rounded.

   Yes, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. But the hand that holds the plow makes the home strong and secure. I know there are many single family homes – I understand that, but I also know that out there somewhere there is a male figure who has influenced a child to do good. I know there are homes where the man just stays because it is convienent to do so. He has no regard for his children or their mother. He has no idea the harm he is causing those children or their mother.

    And yet there are men out ther who sacrifice everything because they are the hub of the family. They work hard, they are hurt by the mistakes they allow their children to make and they love without condition. Those men deserve this day. They deserve to know they are special every day. To know that the hard work they do to see that their families have what is needed is not only appreciated but they are loved for doing it. These are the men who deserve to be special. They are the ones who go without so that their loved ones might have.

   The real father’s who give without getting, who lay awake at night worrying about that errant child, or the sick child or the how he is going to keep a roof over the families head and food in their stomachs and clothes on their backs. These are the father’s we honor today.

    The real father is not always the sperm donor. He is not always the one who helped to give life to that child. He is the one who is always there, who sacrifies and holds out his hand when the child needs a champion. The one who keeps the monstors away at night.

    It is to those Father’s both past and present that I say Happy Father’s Day to. They have earned this day.