Celebrating Fatherhood

Father’s Day is an epitome of paradox for me. The day the news of expecting child is broke, the boy turned man, turns into a father, every day, every hour, every moment. Contrary to what is found in most of females where, beauty is inversely proportioned to age, men grow more handsome with age; the ever developing giver in them could be one of the reasons perhaps. A child brings in a fresh wave of zeal to live a life with purpose, a definite purpose. Life is surely lived before but, it turns alive later.

Surprisingly, only mother’s love, sacrifices are glorified whereas a father’s affection is considered as something he ought to, a responsibility. A father’s life too transforms after child’s birth, it’s his re-birth as well, he too finds solace in being a giver than a receiver but, all this is so innate that it’s barely visible for everyone to notice. Of course, there isn’t any competition of who loves more or who is more a giver, there can’t be any ever but, the breadwinner does somewhere needs to be considered as something apart from that.

A father comparatively spends less time with children, has to make less sacrifices but, he makes child what he turns out to be and that’s with his persona, by idealizing himself, setting a definite standard, becoming a role model, and doing so demands a lot, the most difficult battle, of fighting with one’s lower self, the labor pain of a father spans much longer. A carefree lad turns into a responsible man, a go-getter into go and don’t return unless you get; a hero of his woman turns into a superhero of his children.

I would take the liberty to alter the saying, ‘Behind every successful man is a woman’ to ‘Behind a successful man is not just a lady, it’s a lady with that man’s children to whom, he wants to gift nothing but his success.’ A new life brings the old one, a child makes the parents relive their childhood which, makes them children once again while being a parent, this amalgamation of roles makes one a better child, understanding why all that their parents did to them was just right. The synonym of bliss would be selflessness perhaps. True bliss is in a father’s eyes that envisages child’s future while, he is busy toiling hard to turn it in a reality. He dictates, commands and screams if things aren’t as per his wishes but, that’s what makes him for he sees you as nothing but perfect, anything but ordinary. A father alone can rule heart in spite of ruling life.

Sometime back a question disturbed me, why do people need to reproduce? Now, I searched out a glimpse of its answer. Life isn’t stagnant, it keeps evolving, and it makes everything evolves, our goals, roles, our inner being. This process of evolution ultimately leads us to our higher being, i.e. soul. We can’t be young always, we have to grow old and getting old is getting near to you. Parenthood is an important and crucial part of that transformation. Parents are who want to leave all that they have! Parenthood means making sure they leave everything in safe hands. The path is same how we travel on it is what makes difference.

I don’t need a day to celebrate my father approaching closer to his goal of self-actualization, I don’t need a day to express my gratitude to him, I simply don’t need a gift to give him as a token of his successful upbringing for the reason that, I thank him every day, every moment not for giving me a life but, for making it worth living, for setting a standard for me to reach and inculcating the qualities to fight to achieve it, for letting me soar and keeping the roots attached.