Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 3:40pm

Unsung Heroes: Good Dads

 

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127: 3-5

 

 

 

In these days of coronavirus, the word “hero” has been used non-stop to describe doctors and nurses working on the “front lines”. We’re even calling our teachers heroes. I guess I don’t mind all that much. I understand the sentiment. I suppose it’s quite easy to look at a picture of a tired doctor at the end of a long day in ICU and call him a hero for sticking out the job he gets paid to do. We can look at his fatigue, his crumpled scrubs, the lines on his face from his mask and we can see the sacrifice right there on his face. We can measure his impact because what he does has immediate outcomes in real-time.

It is far more difficult for some starry-eyed, millennial opinion writer with a brand new thesaurus and a gig at The New York Times to look at a father schlepping back and forth to his office job every day and see a hero. That writer probably sees a bored man, or a defeated man, or an uninteresting man who doesn’t have an immediate impact on those around him….certainly not the way a doctor does. His heroism is invisible, because you can’t make a commercial out of it. His service, his bravery is spread out over an entire lifetime, not just one crisis.

Kira Davis

 

 

 

Traditionally Father’s Day was celebrated on March 19 in Catholic countries, a feast day of Saint Joseph  The first Father’s Day observance in the US was on July 5, 1908 In Fairmont, West Virginia.  It was held to honor the 250 fathers who had been among the 361 miners killed in the Monongah mining disaster in Monongah, West Virginia.  The observance received little publicity and it did not start the current Father’s Day.  Over the next few decades there would be proposals to have a Father’s Day observance, but nothing took hold.  In 1957 Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a bill to establish Father’s Day, stating it was unfair to have Mother’s Day and not a Father’s Day. In 1966 President Johnson issued a proclamation establishing Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June.  President Nixon in 1972 signed a bill establishing Father’s Day as a national holiday.

 

My Dad used to say he didn’t need a card or a present on Father’s Day because he had all he ever wanted, his family, a sentiment which I thought basically summed up Father’s Day.  The ultimate assessment of a father in this world is whether he is missed after he dies, and although my father departed this Vale of Tears 29 years ago, I find myself missing him more each year.

A happy Father’s Day to all our readers.

 

 

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Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 4:17am

Thanks for that Don. Happy Father’s Day to you. We really don’t think often about being a father maybe because we are too busy being one.

Bob S. in PI
Bob S. in PI
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 5:47am

Amen to what Mike said…

Foxfier
Admin
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 7:35am

It is far more difficult for some starry-eyed, millennial opinion writer with a brand new thesaurus and a gig at The New York Times to look at a father schlepping back and forth to his office job every day and see a hero.

Exactly how old does the author think most of the dads right now are? The average first time dad being a Millennial started about a decade back– and most of the gushers are either in (or past) their 60s, or in college. (It’s a little sad, really– the twits who were that demo just five, ten years ago are getting trashed and if they’re still relevant, it’s by being more insane; nobody is impressed by the Youthful Wisdom of the guy in his late 20s, and they started developing views–much less useful.)

That dated dig acts like guys like my husband don’t exist. It’s annoying, especially from a gal who’s only a year or two older than my generation.

I don’t want the folks who identify themselves by being Generation X to copy the same sort of Boomers in being obnoxious twits who never realize they are getting old, and that the generation after them is growing up.
I tend to think artificial generations are rather silly anyways, doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my cool, shiny title as the first graduating class of the third millennium, and especially not so it can be used to say “stupid kids”!
Dads should be honored– the ones who flipped a digit to what popular culture told them they should do, and ignored the anti-reproductive pressure to get married and have kids, and now work their rumps off to take care of their family, should be respected.
Even if they’re not all as awesome as my husband. (Too much awesome? Could break something!)

Cathy
Cathy
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 8:29am

Thank you for that post, Don. I always loved “Bernardo’s” speech to those three Mexican boys in the original “Magnificent Seven.”
A very Happy Father’s Day to you!

Nate Winchester
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 12:26pm

Ironic that probably one the more touching tributes to fathers I’ve seen is from the (extremely) foul mouth of one Chris Rock.

“Everybody takes Daddy for granted. …Women need compliments. Go tell your momma how good the food is. Go tell your momma how good she looks. …Nobody tells dad [squat]. …Think about all your daddy has done. …Think about all the work he puts in to make your world a better, safer place, and what does daddy get?

The big piece of chicken.”

Though thankfully he is wrong now and some great songs about Dads have come out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It9QKQnS51c

Nate Winchester
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 1:05pm

True words, Don. True words.

But I do sometimes tell my dad I appreciate the lights and heat in the house when I’m visiting. 😉

Another great Father song I forgot to post. Probably THE top dad song I’d say (thus far) against which the others are judged.

CAM
CAM
Sunday, June 21, AD 2020 1:37pm

My dad was such a good man, a good father and teacher to us and his grandsons. He died at 90 in 2004. My brother and I always talk about how much love our parents had for us.

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