Happy Father's Day

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.
~ Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi" Atlantic Monthly, 1874

This quote is my favorite among the slim pickins' of Father's Day material I can find. In comparison, poetry books and internet quote sites alike abound with Mother's Day material. I'm not sure why, but it seems in our society the role of father has always been secondary to that of mothers. And it seems to be getting worse.
When I was growing up fathers played a less active role in the home. They went to work early in the morning and came home late at night and the work they did at home usually consisted of yard work. Maybe then, it was that they were seen less often.
Now days we have lots of stay-at-home dads, and I for one like the trend.
Even the dads that work outside the home seem to take a more active role in taking care of the children. I hope this will result in more nice poems and quotes. Fathers need to be celebrated as much as mothers, but instead they've become the butt of jokes. Just turn on the t.v. and you see them depicted as bumbling household idiots in most of today's sitcoms. Hopefully the result won't be that less children grow up to appreciate, as Mark Twain did, the wisdom of their old man.
Some would say that both Mother's Day and Father's day are just Hallmark Holidays, but I did some research and it just isn't true (see the excerpt from wikipedia that follows). Fathers as well as mothers need to be celebrated, so if your Dad's still around make sure he has a special day this Sunday. If he's not, find someone who is a Dad, and help him celebrate fatherhood.


It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA, and churches, Father's Day ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was often met with laughter. The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokesman-Review. Many people saw it as the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions.