One of the greatest gifts a man can have in his entire life is his father. He is the mentor, the provider, and most of all, a friend who will understand and be there to support us at all times whether we are right or wrong.
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Lucky are those who have their dad for a long time. I was not that lucky since I only had a dad for just a while because I lost him when I was twenty six years old. A short time indeed but it was very meaningful for me, my other brother, and sister.
Ours was a happy relationship for our father did not lose the child in him. He was so playful at times that we hardly felt the problems in life, especially when things were not that good for us. We always sing as a group, though karaoke was not yet invented at that time. And to top it all off, nobody in the family has the gift of the golden voice. But that doesn’t matter; what really matters to us is to have fun together as a family — a family that was never complete from the start.
Another sad thing was that we didn’t have our mom by our side at that time. My parents separated even before we have a mind of our own. I was only 4 years old then and the eldest in the family. That’s why our Papa is the only parent we know, our dad, our mom, and our friend.
Nevertheless, he provided us with everything we need when he was still with us. Though for other people he was not that perfect, for me he was the best father one can have. He never used his hand to teach us a lesson even when we were naughty. We were taught that children should be treated like an adult, with respect and dignity so that we may learn the true value of it.
The only problem I saw in him was that he was so simple in life. His beliefs were way beyond the norms that we, as normal human beings, must believe and do. He only believed in today, not in the future, and not even in the past. For him what is important is what you can do today, forget what happened yesterday and do not worry about the future that may never come. His virtues and wisdom were properly taught and transferred to us, and these beliefs guided us in our daily lives. And with Father’s Day, I will share what my father taught us and which I believe are the main tools of our success.
WISDOM & VIRTUE:
I will share with you the wisdom and virtue that my Papa taught us, which I consider the greatest.
The greatest wisdom he taught us was that the best treasure here on Earth is our friends. According to him, our family should be our friend first before we can consider them a treasure. It may be hard to comprehend at first but when you try and dig deeper on your own life, you will find that it is true. We can say that our friends contribute more in the development of our life. And I can proudly say that my Papa was more of a friend than a father to us. He treated our decisions with much respect and he never enforced what he wanted or what he thought was right.
We were trained to respect individual decisions as long as we know the consequences of such decisions and how to handle them. That is what makes our friends different from our relatives. More often than not, our love ones force what they think is good for us without even trying to understand what we really want in our life while our friends will accept us whether we are right or wrong because that’s what friends are for. This is one thing our family is practicing right now and hopefully, a legacy our family will carry for a long time. We have to learn to respect decisions even that of a child. We have to let them face the consequences of such decision while maintaining our presence to guide them on their next decision and to be there always even if things go wrong. This is a perfect way to teach children responsibility especially if practiced early in life, like what my Papa did to us.
Furthermore, the greatest virtue he taught us is that of trusting completely. Our Papa told us to put trust in anything and it will work towards your advantage. My Papa trusted us so much that he believed we will never engage in any activity that is against the law of man and the law of God. And true enough, we overcame the trials and temptations to commit acts against the rule of righteousness. This is because in times of temptations, I remember how my Papa trusted me so much, and I know both of us will not feel good once that trust was put into jeopardy. It only proves that complete trust results in a truthful binding agreement between the one who trusts and the one who is trusted.
AT PRESENT:
I am now a dad and my son is now a father to his daughter. The legacy my Papa left is now being practiced and everything is getting better everyday in our life. My son has also proven that the wisdom and virtue is true to his own family. He resisted at first like what I did when I was young but then like him, maturity will tell us what is really right and proper.
As I’ve mentioned, the only regret we have is that the time we shared was so short. But we don’t consider my papa forgotten. In every important thing that happened in our lives, he is the first one to know about it. We go to his resting place to give him the news and tell him we will never fail him and he will be very proud of us.
One virtue I am passing on to my children is this: in every decision that you will take, make sure that you can bravely face me whether I am alive or dead and tell me straight that you believe your decision is right and that you are ready to face the consequences of life with me. But if you cannot do that in front of your father, then let go of that decision for it is doomed to fail and bring forth more problems than solution even before it is consummated.
