Fathers’ Day 2015
I know very little about my father – I don’t remember many conversations with him, although he was a distinct personality in my life; but he didn’t talk much. However I learned many lessons from his silence – and the few things he did say . . . were like painful arrows pointing out obvious problems. When he died, I was 32, and confident we had time to work out the difficulties that separated us.
How wrong I was.
When I mull over the times past, especially on this day set apart for remembering and honoring our fathers, my memories of my father are like looking into a pond of clear water, and seeing treasures beneath the surface. When I reach into the water to draw them forth, disturbing the surface, I am not sure I’ll grasp what I seek to hold.
The shortest best lesson I learned from my father was keep short accounts. Holding a grudge is a colossal waste of time, and when we do, we stagger under an unnecessary burden, and stumble others.
- I learned other lessons – like nothing works like hard work and nothing pays so many dividends as studying and learning.
- I learned that imagination and sweat can provide when money is not available.
- I learned reading to a child, even one fairy tale, can create a vivid memory.
- I learned that sometimes telling the truth and shaming the devil can hurt like a slap across the face – but it was a truth I had to hear.
- I learned there is a power greater than me, to whom I should never fail to say Thank You.
- I learned I could stop smoking.
- I learned that loving your spouse unconditionally doesn’t mean blindly.
- I learned that asking for help in caring for people in your care is not a lapse in manners or morals.
- I learned that refusing to ask for help is deadly.
Happy Father’s Day to Horace Banks Williams, born January 15, 1908, and departed this life, March 5, 1978. Thank you for the treasures in my life you gave me that I know are there – though some are just out of my grasp for now.
- Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. ~Author Unknown
- Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got. ~Art Buchwald
- When it comes time to die, make sure all you got to do is die. ~Attributed to Jim Elliot
Well done . He was a product of another era. Different ideas and values than the current “enlightened”!
Well done. He was a product of an era that valued things differently than today; but that’s true throughout history. He was influenced by what he saw and what was told to him by others. dw