“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” – Jim Valvano
Today is the third Sunday of June Fathers’ Day! Today is the day set aside to celebrate all of the fatherly figures in our lives. Kids all over the world will try to do whatever they can to make their fathers feel special. In Germany, however, the largest newspaper, “Der Spiegel,” claims fathers make themselves special in their own unique way, which might be attractive to many fathers in Guyana:
“In cities across the country, groups of men can be seen pulling wagons packed to the brim with all manner of beer, schnapps, mixers, and anything else that will ensure a messy, drunken afternoon and a head-pounding hangover the next day. By no means limited to fathers, Männertag or Herrentag, which translates as “men’s day,” is open to any male who wants to demonstrate his loutish caveman side.”
* Our dads play a huge part in shaping the type of persons we eventually become. Apparently my brother and I used to want to drink tea and read the newspapers just like our Dad. Never mind we were so little we’d hold the papers upside down, we were still ‘reading’.
* Dad used to read stories to us every night before bed, even doing all of the funny voices for the different characters. So it’s no wonder that my brother and I grew up with a love for reading.
Throughout my school life, whenever I had questions, I’d ask Dad, and invariably he’d have the answer and was able to explain the concept to me in a way that I’d be able to understand. Even now in Med School, I still ask Dad my questions, whether over Skype or during the holidays.
For kids, dad becomes a Superman-type figure who works, knows everything about anything, can fix our toys when they’re broken, fetch us off to bed when as toddlers we’d fall asleep on the couch, and give us advice from experience at every step of our lives.
But it shouldn’t take Father’s Day to remind you of how important your father is. Showing your dad that you care should be something that you do every day. It should come to you as naturally as breathing or as eating (after all, in many families, the father is the sole bread-winner of the family, and is the reason that you actually have something to eat in the first place).
So yes of course, you have to do something special for your dad today. But please don’t just post your gift in the mail, or make a quick phone call or send an e-mail to your father; that’s downright lazy! Take the gift in person, say, ‘Happy Father’s Day’ in person.
Or better yet, cook a special meal for your dad, or just spend some quality time catching up with him.
Happy Father’s Day!
