Father's Day

Father's Day

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People make a big deal about Mother's Day, and rightfully so.  Of the two consenting individuals who conceived you, the female part of your creation was the one who gestated you for 9 months and actually had to go through the physical pains of giving birth to you (it's thoughts like this that make me celebrate my manhood).  Mom's are often the ones who are home to raise you too, although that role is being skewed more and more in these modern times of working women and duel breadwinners.  In any case, mom's deserve a lot of props and they are showered with things like flowers and such on their special day in May.  But what about the fathers out there?  Well, we give them their day too (today in case you forgot, bonehead!) but it's not as hyped as Mother's Day.  Flower shops don't see a major increase flower sales for this Dad-Day, and the retail stores lumps Pops in with the "Dads and Grads" sales.  "Here's 10% off so you can buy that new lawn mower you wanted!"  Not a glorious way to honor the man who helped to bring you into this world and suffered through your first driving lessons. 
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Dad's need to be honored, although not being a dad myself, I'm not sure what the proper way to do that.  Some might just want a day away from the screaming critters that call him "Dad", which is sort of ironic.  I think if I was home, I'd take my dad out for a good meal, but that doesn't seem to do his role in raising me any real justice.  It's always hard to get him something that truly shows how much I appreciate him.  He is the reason I'm here today.  Okay, that might seem like reason to scorn him as the thermometer reads 113 F and the indirect fire alarms ring across the IZ somewhere, but it was his example of selflessness that led me to serve my country and become a soldier, which might be the one thing that I am proud of.  Now, let's get something clear, my dad never pressured me to join the Army.  In fact, the day I enlisted, I rushed home to tell him what I had done and didn't get the warm approval that I thought I would get from a man who spent the better part of his 20's wearing fatigues.  Things worked out and I ended up going to school and becoming an officer, and I think he was proud of the fact that I did it that way instead of his way.  Now I'm sure that he and my mother would want me to be any where else in the world but here (I hear Afghanistan is pleasant this time of year) but I owe a lot of the credit of the officer I am today and the person I've become to my father.  Not being a man of many words, most of the lessons were by silent example, which is why he still keeps my saber on his wall that is engraved with thanks for teaching me all the lessons that no institution could ever teach me. 

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Dad, and parents in general, want better for their kids than they had for themselves.  Working two jobs to make ends meet so that you and your brother could have good school clothes and not live in the projects are things you don't notice when you're young and focused on more important things, like chrome pegs for your sweet BMX bike or acne medicine.  When you get older, and arguably wiser, you look back and see that dad did a lot for you.  He might not have always been there to cheer you on during the track meets or take you outside to play catch with you, but that's because he was working the 2nd or 3rd job to keep food on the table and a roof over your head.  He was there to take you fishing (some of my fondest memories as a kid were in a brown aluminum boat catching perch with my dad and my brother), to drive the ridiculously long trips to distant relatives for vacations (unable to afford plane flights for a family of 4, he'd pack the Chevette and drive for days, non stop, to an aunt or uncle's house on the other end of the world), and show you that you don't have to have a lot of money in the bank to be happy (if it wasn't for a Sears credit card, my brother and I might have gone to school naked). 

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I have some good friends of mine that are celebrating their first Father's Day, and even more who are celebrating their 5th or 8th.  It's hard to envision all of us as high schoolers, playing paintball and chasing girls now laden with the duty of raising the next generation of nurses, computer sales tycoons, ministers, firemen, project managers, hydrology engineers, environmental engineers, physical therapists and yes, even tomorrow's soldiers.  Its a mantle of responsibility that is far greater than any education they ever struggled through, any race they've ever won, and any job they've ever held.  For that, I take my hat off to them and the rest of the Dad's in this world.
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So, like you did a month ago with mom, pick up the phone and give dear ol' dad a call today and thank him for putting up with you (I hope I can get a good phone connection today to do just that for my dad).  You didn't turn out too bad, and for that he does deserve some portion of the credit, doesn't he?
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Interesting Fact of the Day:  Father's Day was actually born from Mother's Day, or more specifically, from a Mother's Day sermon.  A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, who was raised by her father, got the idea after listening to a Mother's Day sermon at church and wanted a way to show how much she appreciated the sacrifices her father made.  Through her efforts, the first official Father's Day celebration was held in Spokane on 19 June 1910.  In 1926, the National Father's Day Committee was formed and was recognized in Congress in 1956.  In 1972, President Nixon himself established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on every third Sunday of June.  And here I thought it was just another "Hallmark Holiday" for all these years!