Father's Day

     Father’s Day is when we take the time to remember Dad in whatever ways we can.This is when we rejoice in fatherhood itself, and the central figure in our lives that our truly loving and responsible fathers have been. He fills our world with joy and discipline as we grow, and with some enduring memories for us as adults.

The nation’s first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in the state of Washington. However, it was not until 1972—58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official—that the day honoring fathers became a nationwide holiday in the United States. Father’s Day 2022 will occur on Sunday, June 19.

It’s interesting how love will find its path into our lives in many forms, and one of them is our father. As with our mother, our father’s love is unconditional. The great basketball coach, Jim Valvano, reflected about his father in this way: “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” Our father’s unwavering faith in us has much to do with who we are.

On Father’s Day, we celebrate Dad’s role as a mentor, a provider, a protector, and caregiver, without ever expecting anything in return. Even so, he gets our love and respect, which grows over time, often when it’s too late to show it.

Consider this: there will be more than one occasion in our lives when we look back and realize, at times in a compelling way, that without our father, life today would not have been so beautiful and rewarding.

Many homes, and many families, however, have not been as fortunate, and never had a father figure. This is where mothers have had to fill the demanding role of both parents. It brings to mind how single mothers, and an increasing number of single fathers, have performed miracles in this way for their children. But often those single mothers and single fathers have gained a true pillar of strength by having had a loving father in their own younger lives. And there are homes and families where fathers have failed, where there seemed no love at all, leaving deeply an empty place in each child’s heart. Yet even in this instance we celebrate the idea of responsible fatherhood. It is where some of us have the chance to be good fathers ourselves, to protect and provide for our loved ones in ways we may never have had. In a sense, those fathers who never really had a father of their own can compensate, and generously carry out that vital, fatherly role in their children’s or step-children’s lives, filling that space in their children’s hearts that never happened for them, and erasing that void in their own hearts at the same time. And one need not have children to gain the wisdom of fatherhood. “It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father,” said Pope John XXIII. Though not literally a father himself, he grew up in a family where father figures unconditionally loved and mentored him. He saw fatherhood from a young age as among the most important bonds one can share.

Fathers or Father figures may not have the same sentimental appeal like mothers, they may not show their love, they maybe strict and mean, but they do love us, their child/ children very much. They may not be as gentle as our mothers, they might say words that may hurt us, they might make us feel like we're not important, but we really are precious to them. So on this Father's Day, let's appreciate our fathers and celebrate fatherhood.

REFERENCES:

"Opinion | A Father’s Day reflection on fatherhood - RiverheadLOCAL" https://riverheadlocal.com/2021/06/20/a-fathers-day-reflection-on-fatherhood/

https://www.history.com/.amp/topics/holidays/fathers-day 

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