What the World Needs Today Are Fathers (standard:humor, 906 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Jun 19 2022	Views/Reads: 598/349	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
My goal in life is to be a reflection of my father to my children and grandchildren and all the people around me.

There is much talk today about what's wrong with our society. That list
is pretty long, but the most important cause of problems in our culture 
today is the lack of fathers. So many children grow up without a father 
in the home. How tragic. 

I was fortunate enough to know my father. My father passed away a little
over 12 years ago. I remember many things he taught me or at least 
tried to teach me. One of the most significant things was when I became 
a teenager he said, “Son, just because you get a girl pregnant doesn't 
mean you're a father.” 

I didn't quite understand what he was talking about at the time. Years
later, I understood what he was talking about. 

My father taught me a lot, and most of the things had to do with money.
He was very close to his money. Often, he would tell me, “Son, don't 
pay somebody to do something you can do yourself.” 

I understand that, but I also understand that, at times, it backfired on
him. There were times when he was trying to fix something and made such 
a mess that he had to hire somebody to fix it, which cost him about 
three times as much as if we would've hired the person in the first 
place. He never talked too much about that, but I noticed it several 
times and probably more times than I noticed. 

About a year before he died, he gave me his ring. He told me this ring
was worth thousands of dollars and wanted me to have it. I was rather 
happy, but I'm the kind of person that does not like to wear money out 
in public. 

After my father passed away, I took the ring and had it appraised. If
this ring is worth thousands of dollars, I was not going to wear it; I 
would rather have the money and put it in the bank. 

After appraising the ring, the person said that at most, it was worth
$100. That was far short of my father's evaluation. Why he believed it 
was worth thousands of dollars is beyond me. Maybe he was just trying 
to impress me. I still wear that ring and think of my father. 

My parents would come down to Florida as snowbirds every year and stayed
not far from where I lived. For the last week of my father's life, I 
was with him, and most of the time, he was in a coma state. He was in 
bed and unresponsive. 

Then, much to everybody's surprise, he woke up one day as though nothing
was wrong with him. He had energy, got up and dressed, and friends came 
to visit him. 

One of the things my father did was talk to me, “Son, I don't want to
stay here in Florida. I want to get ready and go back to Pennsylvania. 
Can you drive me back tomorrow?” We had a long discussion about this, 
and I cheerfully said, “Oh, dad, of course, I'd be happy to drive you 
home tomorrow.” 

One of his friends overheard our conversation. Towards the end of the
day, he took me out to the garage and had a rather straightforward 
conversation with me. 

“Do you know how serious your father is? Do you know that he could never
last that trip home?” 

He then proceeded to tell me that as a son, I needed to be more
considerate of my father's health. I should never jeopardize his 
health, and I should never agree take him home. That was too dangerous, 
according to my father's friend. 

When he was done ranting about all this and quieted down, I explained
what was going on. 

“I know how sick my father is,” I said as seriously as possible. “I know
that my father will not last more than a couple of days, and I do not 
want my last conversation with my father to be a vicious argument. 
Whatever he wants now, I am willing to go along with.” 

My father's friend looked at me and said, “I'm so sorry. I never thought


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