Posted June 16, 2005

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     Father’s Day was originally a religious observance.  Ninety-six years ago, a woman from Spokane, Washington, named Mrs. John Bruce Dodd persuaded the “Ministerial Society” of Spokane to dedicate special church services to fathers.  This movement grew.

     Two of our least charismatic Presidents endorsed the idea of Father’s Day.  Woodrow Wilson “officially approved” the concept of Father’s Day in 1916.  In 1924, it was “recommended nationally” by Calvin Coolidge.  Coolidge gave as his reasoning, “To establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children, and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

     Despite these underwhelming beginnings, Fathers Day caught on.  It is now observed all across the U.S. on the third Sunday in June.  This year, that’s next Sunday, June 19.  What is it about fathers that is so special?

To start with, the title “father” has always been highly honorable one.  We call our greatest leaders “Fathers”, as in Founding Fathers.  The most obvious example is George Washington, who is still called “The Father of Our Country”, even though he himself never had any children.  But he was devoted to his stepchildren, John and Martha Custis, from Martha Washington’s first marriage.

     Fathers have mysterious qualities about them.  Whatever the occasion, no matter how tense the situation, when a father arrives on the scene things calm down without a word being spoken.  Fathers can keep their heads in crises.  They will stand up to any risk when their children are in danger. 

     And they lead.  You can bet, when the first human tribes came out of Africa and colonized the world, they were led by fathers.  Those fathers were seeking food or land or fresh water for their families, and they had no maps or landmarks.  They just went.  That might explain why fathers, even today, refuse to stop and ask directions.  It’s in their blood.

     Fathers are creatures with broad shoulders.  They possess that politically incorrect quality called “upper body strength”.  This lets them swing a bat, throw a perfect spiral, and pick up two concrete blocks at the same time.  Such achievements are almost magical to their children - the stuff of dreams.  These same shoulders are wide enough for two kids to sit on during a parade.  And when a father sits down, there’s a lap underneath those broad shoulders that can hold even more sons and daughters.

     This Sunday is Father’s Day.  It’s also a day on which many young people will be in an athletic contest of some kind.  Where do you think fathers will be?  We’ll place a gentlemanly or ladylike wager that most of them won’t be off doing their own thing.  Instead, they’ll be watching their children play - like “The 1452 Franklin Park Circle Hero”.

     Fathers are kisses with occasional bristles.  They know lots of things.  They are goldmines of truly important facts – those special facts that satisfy a child’s curiosity.  Fathers are very good at building things.  They can picture how something will look when it’s finished, just by staring off into space.  And even though they don’t hug enough, fathers are the world’s true dreamers, to the point of being impractical at times.  Yet, fathers willingly forgo their own dreams in order to imagine what their children will become when they grow up.

     Are there any better men than fathers?  Well, actually there are.  They are our fathers’ fathers.  We call them “grandfathers”.  Remember them both this Sunday.