Throughout the nation this weekend, fathers will take their rightful place in the seat of honor although not yet as highly celebrated as the Mother’s Day that preceded it a few weeks earlier. Neither does Father’s Day equal in sentiment the flair or even commercialization that Mother’s Day receives and the contributions of fathers to the stability of the family is often subordinated. Yet, since the latter celebration was started in 1910 by Mrs. John Bruce Dodd of Spokane, WA, the third Sunday of each June has been observed as Father’s Day throughout the United States and Canada and in 1936 a National Father’s Day Committee was formed headquartered in New York.
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 has been becoming promiscuously misconstrued.
I also find it interesting to note how few, if any care to remember the Biblical passage (Matthew 23:9) where Christ says, “And call no man your father upon the earth; for One is your Father, which is in heaven.”
Jesse Jackson would frequently remind the youth within his audiences that being able to produce a baby is not what makes you a man and certainly not a father. It’s taking care and responsibility of that infant for the next 20 years of its life that merits that honor.
As little as we may hear of it, however, there are many who are doing just that–some even without the mother. But it’s the “dead-beat dads” that get the most attention and publicity. The subliminal competitive edge is often created when children are not taught early in life to respect and love fathers and mothers equally. Instead the faults of the father are too frequently emphasized and often magnified, weakening the entire fabric of the family while permanently damaging future male/female relationships of the siblings.
In the Baha’i Holy Scriptures we read, “If a man has nine bad qualities and one good one, cling to the one and forget the nine.” Also “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 insensitive, inhumane, selfish society in which the more we accumulate the less we appreciate–while overtly or covertly teaching our posterity to do the same.
This Father’s Day may we remember that we are all our Heavenly Father’s children and therefore subject to His Will and not Him to ours. May we view every day as our Father’s Day and give Him thanks for whatever freedoms and blessings we still enjoy. The more appreciative of His blessings and obedience to His Will, the higher the spiritual plateau we will ascend toward our fullest potential as well as assist that of others.
~ HAPPY FATHER’S DAY ~
