Happy Fathers Day
My father and I disagree on how to run the world most efficiently. We are both scientists. Everyone is a politician. We could wage war based on our beliefs but I am afforded the great privilege of recognizing that I have inherited a major portion of my father’s personality. Therefore, all of the tools I could use to wage war were bestowed upon me by him. I have such tremendous respect for him: for his critical intellectual powers; that he is a master of all trades; that he has given me many of the skills I need to survive in this world- the grandest of all is perhaps the freedom I was given to formulate my own opinions. Though he may feel I am somewhat misguided in my opinions, I am certain he recognizes that he gave me those tools and that freedom to become his antithesis. If I didn’t know how much he respects me I might well consider myself his own familial Frankenstein.
Many fathers and their offspring do not have the fortunate fate that I share with my father. Their relationships have been torn asunder by the churning world of politics and the Frankenstein that has grown out of freedom and democracy. On this Father’s day, this American Father’s day, I want the world to stop and take a look at all men and think these thoughts: these men have a father and a mother; these men might have sons and daughters; these men might have sons and daughters who have been wounded or killed in combat in the wars that they create. These men might have mothers and fathers who were killed or maimed in the conflicts they create. These men may have brothers and sisters who have been killed in the wars of men who seek their own personal gain. These men may have been sent off to foreign lands in the megalomaniacs’ death machine to kill and to die, leaving their, or their adversary’s, sons and daughters fatherless, their wives husbandless, and their parents without child.
I can not wage war on my father based on our radically different political ideologies because I understand I am very much the same as he is underneath the belief. I can only respect him for what he has given me and what of it I have become. I can only admire and respect my father for his tireless efforts to bring peace to this world. Though our methodologies for peace may differ, I understand that he has not an ounce of malice in his soul and is perhaps one of the most generous people I know. I can not wage war on my father because he has lost a son, and I a brother. I can not wage war on my father because I can not hurt or kill my father, an he can not wage war on me for the same reasons.
All of the conditions for war are there, but somehow we know that the cycle must be broken and that we can live with each other in imperfect harmony, respecting each others differences since underneath it all, we are one in the same. We are the culmination of generations of fathers and their offspring trying to bring order to the world. Unfortunately our ideologies, designed to promote peace and stability, have often led to war.
To all of the fathers and their sons and daughters and wives and siblings, and to all of the siblings, wives, daughters and sons, and mothers and fathers, of all countries, races, and creeds, I wish you the happiest of Father’s days with the hope that somehow we can all respect each others ideologies and somehow learn to resolve our conflicts peacefully without all of the brutal death and destruction that some sons serve this world.