Celebrating dads on Father’s Day

In a few days, we will have the privilege to celebrate and honor dads all over the world on Sunday, which is Father’s Day.

For some, this will be a joyous occasion; for others, not so much.

Before we dive into what Father’s Day means, we must take a brief look at the history of how it came to be.

That history varies from source

to source depending on where you look.

The campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm as Mother’s Day – perhaps because, as one florist explained, “Fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.”

On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, where a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah.

But this was a one-time commemoration – not an annual holiday.

The next year, a Spokane, Washington, woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, wanted to honor her father and the many sacrifices he made as a parent by trying to establish an official holiday equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents.

She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910.

Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington D.C.

By 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day.

More than 110 years later, the day for honoring fathers is celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June.

One might ask, “What is a father?” The dictionary says it is a man who has begotten a child. But is this enough?

Anyone can father a child, but it takes a special person to step up and be a dad.

I understand this might be controversial, but it is the truth.

Many studies have been done regarding the importance of a father’s role and the development of children and adolescents.

Studies suggest when a father figure is present in a child’s life, they tend to be more secure, successful and an asset to society.

On the other hand, studies suggest that when a father figure isn’t present in the lives of his children, they to tend to be insecure and anxious, and they tend to have other social and emotional issues as well. Fathers are important.

We are not always blessed with the best fathers and that is no fault of our own.

What I have learned through my 40 years of life is it takes a special man to step up and take on the role of a dad to not only his own children but to others as well.

I am talking about stepfathers and adoptive fathers, as well as those fathers who step up to be a dad to

orphans so they can have that nurturing and loving father figure in their lives.

My faith tradition teaches us we are to train up our children in

the way they should go – and when they are older they will never turn away.

As fathers, it is our responsibility to teach and invest in the lives of our children in positive ways.

They need to know we love them, care for them, and are proud of them – even when they mess up.

So it is with great honor that I wish all of you dads out there a happy Father’s Day.

And I encourage everyone to take a minute out of your busy day, and wish the father figures in your life a happy Father’s Day as well.