Growing up we are bombarded with the same question over and over again: what do we want to be when we grow up? As we mature we get a sense of who we want to be, and what we want to do with the very complex life that we possess. Coming to this understanding takes a long time. Usually in our quest for “self” we take a couple of detours. It is with the help of our parents, more specifically our fathers, that we are able to get back onto the right path.
Every year, during the month of June, American families celebrate their fathers. When college students look back on their 20 or so years of life, it seems that the day we celebrate our fathers has always been there. In reality though, Father’s Day is still a relatively new concept. According to The Library of Congress, Father’s Day was first established in the year 1966 by then President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was not made permanent until 1972, when President Richard Nixon signed it into law. The days we celebrate our mothers and our fathers forces individuals to take a pause in their lives and acknowledge some of the most important people in their lives.
While in high school and especially in our college years, we often forget to thank our parents. Infact we often forget to be grateful for all that our parents do for us. We often lash out at them making absurd comments about how they don’t understand, because they are way too old to even begin to comprehend what we are going through. Eventually we arrive at a certain point in our college careers, where we realize that life is far shorter than it seemed when we were in our teens. It was not all that long ago that our parents were in the same position that we now find ourselves in. We gripe and moan when they make us clean the house or get a job for the summer when we aren’t in school, but all our fathers and mothers are doing is giving us the work ethic that will helps us sustain our lives.
With that in mind we should really take the time to pause and appreciate their fathers, or any significant figures in their lives that have pushed them to pursue higher education, to chase their dreams, and who wanted us to be nothing but our absolute best. Looking back on my short time on this earth, I realize that there shouldn’t be a need for the single holiday to stop and appreciate what my father or mother have done for me. This realization came to me in my junior year of college, as I went to my classes, rain or shine, and understood that my parents had given me the tools to answer that big complex and scary question: what do I want to do with my life?
