As an educator, I do believe that one of my fundamental responsibilities is teaching the virtues and values of a morally traditional society, such as the unconditional love and appreciation of our parents, to my students. Consequently, I often stress the importance of seizing every opportunity to display those sentiments toward our dads and moms.
To accomplish the previous objective, every year as Father’s Day approaches, I allocate a class to open a forum of discussion about the reasons that should prompt us to celebrate the precious event.
To motivate my students, I, yearly, hold a writing contest, with symbolic prizes, about the topic. I was pleasantly surprised by the responses that I previously received from my students.
Some students emphasized the fact that their fathers exert every possible effort to pave their routes into adulthood with compassion, patience and guidance.
Other students stressed that without the financial and moral support of their fathers, they would not be able to survive in the complex societies of today.
A great number of students stated that their dads are their idols. When I asked them to elaborate further on their statements, they explained that they admire the resilience of and the sacrifices made by their fathers to grant them the opportunity to achieve success in their careers of choice.
Few students argued that there was no need for them to display gratitude
toward their fathers for fulfilling their responsibilities. In addition, their dads are aware of their love and subsequently, they are not obligated to express that love by uttering empty words, giving pretentious hugs or presenting them with superficial gifts.
A couple of students indicated that they were not asked to be born. Therefore, their dads are obligated by society to cater to their needs. Hence, why should they show gratitude toward their fathers?
Regardless of the variation in responses, there are many reasons that prompt us to celebrate Father’s Day, such their daily struggle to take care of us, their generosity of spirit that leads them to exert endless efforts to provide us with comfortable lifestyles and their unconditional love and guidance.
It is a well-known fact many students unintentionally take their fathers for granted.
I must acquire the courage to admit that as a child, I took my father for granted too. I, only, began to re-evaluate my attitude toward my remarkable father after his death when 15 years old.
Becoming a father myself with two kids, I looked forward to Father’s Day. My children gestures of gratitude and respect on that day brought a tremendous amount of joy and pleasure into my life.
The following question should be “How can we celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday, June 21st, 2015?” Fortunately, the majority of people are free on that day.
You can take your family for an excursion with your dad as the guest of honor. A thoughtful gift, reasonably priced would make your father extremely happy.
A self-made symbolic gift presented with a hug given to your dad would provide him with the wonderful feeling of being appreciated.
Even a sincere and heartfelt phone call to him would be sufficiently adequate if you are too busy or have no financial means to display gratitude, love and respect toward your father on his day.
Finally, I wish to seize this opportunity to wish happy Father’s Day to dads everywhere.
Sava Hassan is a Canadian Egyptian author/writer/poet/educator. He was fortunate enough to publish three books and countless number of articles, essays and poems. Few years ago, he was writing an advice column for a Beijing English magazine for a year. He won several writing awards including three from China. Now, he, occasionally, writes articles for China Daily and Global Times, the two major English Newspapers in China.