This coming Sunday, fathers throughout the nation will again take their rightful place in the seat of honor although not yet as highly commercially celebrated as Mothers’ Day. Neither does Fathers’ Day yet equal in sentiment, flair or even commercialization as the contributions of fathers to the stability of the family are often subordinated.
Webster defines the word father as: “One who cares for as a father might;” to which World Encyclopedia adds: “a title of honor given to men who establish anything important in human affairs, or to a man who occupies an unusual place in history.” This title of honor in recent years, however has been becoming promiscuously misconstrued. I also find it interesting to note how few are familiar with the Bible passage in which Christ says, “And call no man Father, which is in heaven”–(Matthew 23:9)
Jesse Jackson would frequently remind the youth in particular that, “Being able to produce a baby is not what makes you a man—and certainly not a father! It is assuming responsibility of that infant for the first 20 years of it’s life that makes you a father!
As little as we may hear tell of it, however, there are many fathers who are doing just that, some even without the mother! But it’s always the “dead-beat dads” that we hear most about. The subliminal competitive edge is often created when children are not taught early in life to respect and love fathers and mothers equally. This situation is augmented when each or both parents degrade the other in their absence—and worse still in the presence of siblings and others.
In the Baha’i Holy Scriptures we read: “If a man has 9 bad qualities and one good one, cling to the one and forget the 9!” Also that “One must see in every human being only that which is worthy of praise!” How increasingly do we continue to drift in the opposite direction in today’s critical and insensitive society in which the more we accumulate the less we appreciate!
Today we are blessed with increasing fraternal and other organizations, especially within the Roanoke Valley that have been and are continuing stepping up to the plate to help father and mentor youth with and without fathers in the home.
This Fathers’ Day may we remember that we are all our Father’s children and therefore subject to His Will–and not Him to our will.
As Nipsy Russell would say: we should “Help a man when he’s in trouble. Help him and never complain. Help him and he will remember you-when he gets in trouble again!”
May we view every day as our “Father’s Day” and give perpetual thanks for whatever blessings we may still enjoy, for “Where there is life there is hope! Continuously abuse them and you will lose them. Just remember, “The higher the spiritual plateau, the fuller our potential as men and nations!
HAPPY FATHERS’ DAY!
