Father's Day is coming up soon, and with it the many celebrations families have with their fathers: barbecuing, fishing, sports, buffets and the many sentimental cards shrouded with humorous puns and gags. If you are like me, you know that the humorous Father's Day cards are easier and more entertaining than the deep meaningful cards whose fleeting words are limited to only 4 inches of blank space. However, even though the humorous cards are easier to give than the deep meaningful ones, the latter are so much more important to give to your father on Father's Day and here's why:
Did you ever really wonder why those sample essay questions from your high school SAT test asked, "Are there some heroes who will be remembered forever? Or are all heroes doomed to be forgotten one day?" You probably impassively picked a personal role model as an example and answered the question "what is a hero?", but did you really wonder why heroes want to be remembered? This is not going to be a boring essay to answer those questions, but an account of the important aspects of remembering our heroes and how that so vastly effects who we are.
HOW DOES A HERO FIGURE FUNCTION?
A hero is simply a brave individual who experiences tragic events, overcomes trials, sacrifices and risks their assets for the benefit of others, and by doing so reinforces a culture's customs, values and beliefs. What most people don't realize about the story of a hero is the social identity it provides for a culture. Like Matthew Winkler claims in his TedEd talk, What Makes a Hero?, everyone can relate to a hero, because everyone has gone through the hero's journey of hardship, endurance and change. Think about it, your everyday Joe doesn't fight dragons and restore the kingdom on a regular basis, but maybe Joe's dragon is his occupation, and restoring the kingdom means paying his bills so his family can eat. The reason why a culture always has a hero, whether it be an individual, a god of nature, our soldiers or a superhero like Superman, is because those people idolize, and want to be like that hero. Heroes are relatable role models who we want to mimic, and this Father's Day it could mean so much to him to tell him how great of a hero he has been for your family, because maybe he needs to know that someone remembers him, so that he feels truly valued.
In reality, not every family has a father, and some fathers are down right horrible - everyone has a different story, but even if you don't have a father figure in your life, let the person who you look up to know how much of a hero they are to you. Be detailed, tell them why, use exact stories, let them know that their acts of service have inspired you to be, live and act differently.
WHY DO WE NEED TO REMEMBER?
One reason why we need to remember is because once we realize that our heroes have shaped who we are, supported us to where we are now, showed us what we want and value most in life, we remember that we didn't accomplish life on our own. Remembering keeps us human, never letting us forget how dependent we are on the people and resources around us. Remembering keeps us humble and thankful.
The last reason remembering is so important is because it is the singular way to become immortal; remembering keeps those who have died alive. Everyone fears death. Death is the failure to survive, or to really live (you could have done more, you should have done more), it means being forgotten and becoming meaningless - death is something we only experience once. It's the fear of the unknown, and we don't really know for sure what happens when we die. We have theories and ideas, and I say this, because, fun fact: the concept of Hell came from Greeks philosophizing about the soul after death. Before the Hellenization of the concept of death, Hell was a literal cold, wet and dark grave, not some location with living activity, it was a place of nothingness. For further research on that so some research on the Hebrew word sheol in Old Testament scripture. Nevertheless, hope is the alternative to this fear of death, we should have positive attitudes, because maybe death isn't as scary as the world hypes it up to be, maybe its peaceful, blissful even, but maybe our consciousness legitimately disappears and that's the end of us. Nothingness wouldn't hurt, what hurts is our ego realizing we won't be all powerful, important beings forever. If I'm wrong, I would rather have that attitude and pursue other avenues of life than trying to be the very best like no one ever was.
CONCLUSION
This is why it is so important to remind our fathers of how they have affected our lives. Being remembered is feeling important, feeling important is being valued and being valued gives our fathers a reason to slay the horrible dragons that make our lives so difficult, but worth living for, so that we can live, survive and love one another. So, write your father a deep meaningful note, he needs to know he is valued - we all do.