My Fathers’ Day Message for My Children

June 16, 2018 

 

The four of you have already given me more than a father could ever reasonably hope to receive. As Fathers’ Day arrives this year and every year hereafter, I just want each of you to know how proud you have made me to be a father.

As you consider how you want to celebrate Fathers’ Day as children of mine, I want you to know that material gifts are unnecessary. Here is all I ask of you from this Fathers’ Day forward:

1. Think about the millions of children who don’t, or didn’t, have a father in their lives.

2. Think about the millions of children who are living, or have lived, their lives with abusive fathers.

3. Think about how having a father like yours, and like mine, in their lives might have made their lives different.

4. Think about what you can do to make the lives of children, now and in the future, better for them so that they can grow up with at least as much as you had. You can’t do it for every child, but every one you help is a step in the right direction for us all.

5. Continue to live fulfilling lives that make you both happy and proud of who you are. Live the life of your choosing and take responsibility for your choices and for those you bring into your lives through those choices. Work to live and don’t get caught in the trap of living to work.

Make Fathers’ Day a happy day of reflection without burdening yourselves with the commercial obligations or regrets over whether you have met societal standards for celebrating it the “proper way”. The only proper way is by doing what is in your heart and that is something only you can know.

I love you all and I’m quite proud of the adults the four of you have become. Just keep on dreaming and strive to realize those dreams while being aware those dreams may change over time and require course corrections. Don’t lock yourselves onto a single path and avoid trampling others along the way as you continue your journeys of life!

Happy Fathers’ Day from your highly satisfied father!