A Lesson Learned From My Dad

Fathers' Day is a celebration honouring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds and the influence of fathers in society.  It is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in many countries.

The Hamilton Spectator in 2010, requested submissions from readers to relate  "A Lesson Learned from Your Father.”   Two or three would be selected for the Fathers' Day issue...to which I complied.

My sister and I were raised on a farm in southern Ontario. I was 14 months younger. Approaching and during my teen years, I grew taller than her and most of my female classmates.

Being self-conscious and lacking self-esteem, I slouched somewhat and was most reluctant to “hold my head high". My Father was most assertive and constantly insistent that I be proud of my height. He would tell me continually, “Stand up straight. Keep your shoulders back and your head high. One day you will appreciate my advice.”

It was in later years that I discovered the positive effect of being tall.

Items on high shelves were easily retrievable.

My physical body adapted well to sports.

Clothes, properly selected and co-ordinated often created a “lasting impression”.

Application of cosmetics and hair styling accentuated this personna.

These transformations were for my own betterment, increasing inner confidence.

I could walk into a room, feeling comfortable...

and recognized for my stature and demeanour.

Today, I thank Dad for his guidance...

which set me on a course of action to develop an individual personality.

Strange, now that I reflect , my height was 5 feet, 7 inches. 

Why did I feel so awkwardly tall?

Selections from the Fathers' Day Quote Collection:

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right,

he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.” (Charles Wadsworth)

“It is a wise father that knows his child.” (William Shakespeare)

“I cannot think of any need in childhood

as strong as the need for a father's protection.” (Sigmund Freud)

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant,

I could hardly stand to have the old man around.

But, when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished

at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” (Mark Twain)

“It doesn't matter who my father was;

it matters who I remember he was.” (Anne Sexton)

“One father is worth more than a hundred schoolmasters.” (Proverb)

“If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated,

let him take comfort from the fact

that whatever he does in any fathering situation

has a fifty percent chance of being right.” (Bill Cosby)

“A man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding

done during the growing season.” (Unknown)

“A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet

where his money used to be.” (Author Unknown).

“Any man can be a father.

It takes someone special to be a dad.” (Unknown)

In a recent advertising flyer in my mailbox was a vertically tall woodland picture. A great sturdy green-leafed tree with Y-shaped mature split trunk is the focus of this colour photo. Standing in the foreground at the base of the tree is a boy (probably 6 years of age) wearing dark brown pants and gold sweater.  With tousled blondish hair and  holding a kite cord in his hand, he peers into the height of the tree.  Standing on a strong branch, with his left hand holding an upper limb, a man reaches out with his right hand to a red kite with a long fluttering red-ribbon tail (which had become entangled)...to retrieve it for his son.

 The four word caption is, "There's Only One Dad!"

A Qualifying Anagram for Fathers:

Faithful

Always there

Trustworthy

Honouring

Ever loving

Righteous

Supportive

Merle Baird-Kerr

June 2 2011