Happy Father Day

Thank you, God, for today is a very SPECIAL day to all fathers on tjis earth! It's Father's Day, falling on 17 June 2007 (i.e 3rd Sunday of the month of June). This is the day when all children will have the opportunity to honor their fathers. However, it is also true that all men who act as a father figure such as stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day too.

Do you know how did Father's Day come about? I have downloaded the story of Father's Day from the internet :-

"Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart.

William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day."

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day.

Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.

President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972."

Here are some meaningful quotes about father :-

"It is a wise father that knows his own child." -- William Shakespeare

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." -- English Proverb

"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." -- Anne Sexton

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!" -- Lydia M. Child

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection." -- Sigmund Freud

"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons." --
Johann Schiller

Sorry to say, I had never celebrated Father's Day with my late father, who had left this world 20 years ago. Nevertheless, whenever I think of him, I am so grateful to my old man who struggled hard to send me for further study overseas. He was a tailor by profession and he operated a tailor shop by rental in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Malaysia. My father was not a Rich Dad. He was, indeed, a Poor Dad. He left his parents, younger brother and sister in Da Bu, Guangdong, China, at the age of 16, to join his uncle in Malaysia. He did not work long in his uncle's shop in Yong Peng, Johor, Malaysia. Somehow he ended up in tailoring business in a small town known as Kuala Lipis. One thing I am still proud of my father because he might be a poorest dad he had left his children the richest inheritance, i.e. giving them higher education abroad. I am sure my 2 younger brothers, Kong Fatt and Kong Teck, will fully agree with me.

My father seldom talked to me during my boyhood days. He was always busy doing his tailoring business. But in later years, whenever I had the chance to travel long distance with him, inside the car we tried to catch up with long conversation of what we had missed in my younger days. I told him that I not only wanted him to be a father, but also a friend so as to bridge up the so-called "Geberation Gap". I am sure all fathers would like our children to be able to talk and communicate with us just like all christian fathers are able to talk to God in prayers.

My children are calling or sending me SMS wishing me "A Happy Father's Day" as I stay back in Jambi, Indonesia because of work commitment. For my friends who are also working in various parts in Indonesia, I am sure your children will do call or sms you too. Perhaps we can celebrate Father's Day throughout the year when we are back home with our children whenever we are on leave.

HAPPY FATHER DAY! PRAISE THE LORAD.