Do other countries celebrate Father's Day? Or is this another uniquely American holiday. We seem to have a need to package everything for simplicity. Let's have a nicely planned day once a year, so we can get on with the rest of life and feel good about ourselves.
I should say it is not just Father's day that I feel this way about. I told Irene on our second date "I hate Valentine's Day, you are much more likely to get flowers from me on a random day because I feel like it, than on Valentines Day". She replied, "Good I hate getting flowers, if I want flowers I will put them in the house". :)
Father's day is much the same in my book. A day fraught with expectations (usually most felt by the mom not the offspring of said father), often stressful, and involving lots of sales on Polo shirts. I feel about Polo Shirts the way Irene feels about flowers, if I want another one I will go get it. I'll let you know later if i get one tonight at dinner.....
Doesn't the better celebration of Father's Day happen on a random day when your child or children does something that makes you smile and feel proud? Like when Aubrey gave a kickin' poster presentation at school last month about the need to change our society from a "Don't Get Raped" society to a "Don't Rape" society. Or when you see them demonstrating the ethics and values you have been trying to impart to them all these years? Never knowing if it has been successful until you see it demonstrated in Day-to-Day life. Something as simple as saying "Thank you" to a clerk or teacher, or making a choice based on the values and morals you have worked to demonstrate in your own life..
Rather than designating a single, special day of honor, it seems that other cultures do a much better job of respecting and honoring mothers, fathers, grands and ancestors as a part of who they are and have less a need to designate a specific day because it runs through everything they do. Maybe this is partly because we are a relatively young society at 235 years as compared to other cultures that have been evolving and figuring these things out for thousands of years.
Well, here's to our continued evolution as a country and society. May it move in the direction of respecting and honoring, on a daily basis and infused in our very being, all who have made this day possible.
Have a day.
Mike
