Are All Fathers Worth Celebrating?

As we talk about Fathers’ Day, one question always comes to the fore: Are all fathers worth celebrating? Well, many people will have their own reasons as to whether all fathers deserve to be celebrated. In as much as we have irresponsible fathers out there I think we do not have to entirely leave them out when it comes to celebrating fathers.

I am a young man who has lived close to all his life growing up without having the feel of a Father’s love. My father left to oversees to seek for greener pastures when I was five years old. It is almost twenty years now and I barely hear from him.

Though at a point in time he tried to reach us once in a long while, I would not actually say I have a ‘father-son’ relationship with him. Those times when he would call, our conversation was quiet strained since I had not developed the habit of conversing with him. I always saw him as a stranger and it was always difficult to have a ‘father-son’ chat with him. In fact, I do not think I can ever have a place in my heart to place him as my father.

However, despite the struggles I have been through without my father, it is amazing that I find it difficult to hate him. I believe this is as a result of the way my mother always portray him. She always makes me understand that God knows why he is behaving that way since he was a good man when she married him. She never made or said things that would make me hate him. This is where I would encourage mothers not to pollute their children’s mind towards their fathers who might be irresponsible at a point in time. For all you know, your father might change his behaviour some time.

To recount some of the moments: there were times when I had to fill forms stating my father’s occupation and residence and I always felt embarrassed not knowing how to fill that portion. There were also times where during discussions with friends and a subject on fathers crops up, I become the odd one since I always had nothing to say in that effect. Aside all these there have been emotional situations where I needed to talk to my father and he was never there.

In the face of all these, I am of the conviction that we need to celebrate all fathers if not for anything at all, but for the fact that they gave us life. I am not trying to condone irresponsibility on the part of fathers but merely stating that we shouldn’t judge them by ruling them out of our lives. After all I am a victim of such circumstance and I know how hard it is to live without a father. There is a religious doctorate that opines that “Parents have a responsibility over their children and children also have a responsibility over their parents.” Hence once the person has accepted the fact that he gave birth to you, you should be able to also accept and respect him as a father.

To conclude, I would entreat all who have been victims of irresponsible parenting on the part of fathers to forgive them and treat them as fathers. Remember, you also have a responsibility over your parents. Leave the irresponsibility of your fathers to Almighty God to deal with.