A humble tribute to fathers!

Janghaolun Haokip *

Only lately, I started to wonder, what about daddy? How long will he be with me? What would I do without Him?

I've never had these questions in mind before. I had the feeling that Fathers just exist, or I don't even think about it at all –Fathers, they exist, and just like that.

I've never thought anything about anything about fathers. All I knew was that they are just there and they help. They are just there, strong and firm, for us to lean on.

They are just there as the foundation on which our whole being rests and makes shape. Simply that!

It's a little strange when we look back to when we were kids. To me back then, my father was the strongest. In my thoughts; there was no one else stronger than my father. I knew of no one who could possibly beat my father.

He was also the best in everything. There was no one who could be a better good than my father. The sweets he bought me, even if they are the same as my friends', were always sweeter; the things he taught me were always better, and the way that he raised me was the best. I never really had anything to complain about him.

I remember one time my daddy bought me a jacket. That jacket instantly became my favourite. I'd wear it constantly: I'd wear it at church; at play, at the jungle, at sleep –literally, almost all the time.

One time, I was fighting with a friend who was my elder sister's age. I was on below and he was on top of me with all the childish murmurs when we get into a fight. Almost crying then, I said "Stop! I'll go and wear my jacket and we'll fight again." There is something incomparably special about a daddy, I believe, that I had to go wear a jacket that he specially bought me.

Sometimes when I get to think about those, I would never wish my daddy to go. I would never wish him to leave me, because I can't think of what I would be doing without him. What I would become and how will I survive when my dad's gone are questions that can't get enough space in my head.

There may come a time, or maybe it's already here, that I would physically be stronger than my dad. But deep inside I know that I can never grow stronger than my father as a person. We can never grow stronger than our roots are.

Of course we may become more learned and more distinguished as a person than our fathers. But the truth is that the tree grows and bears fruits only as much as its roots strive to penetrate deeper and wider into the earth.

Unfortunately, as we grow and get older with time, there are us who seem to come to undermine the role of our fathers. We start to want to grow over our fathers. The good ways they teach us get into constant contests with our desires as teenagers and younger adults with a lot of friends and a lot of things to do that are tempting to the core.

However, please believe me, almost three decades of life-experiences have taught me that these are just vain fantasies that are springing purely out of delusions. It has made me decide today that if I could go back and change one thing in life, I would never stop giving the respect my dad deserves, and above that, I will never question my dad ever again.

On Father's day, let us not only celebrate fatherhood but also their indispensable impact and role in our lives. Let us celebrate strength, security, sacrifice and every single aspect of fatherhood that comes with it.

With it, let us thank our Fathers today for being a wonderful Father that they are. Let us be reminded that they deserve the world that they sacrificed for us. We need to know that we, as sons and daughters, have every obligation and responsibility to make them feel special; to make them smile, and make them happy.

Let today not be the only day that we love and appreciate them, but let that happiness lasts as long as life itself.

If you don't have a father today and a single mom is raising you, she is a father too, and she deserves all the awe and respect as any father. If you don't have both, you are a father yourself for a person cannot survive without the virtues of a father.

If anyone is your strength and your stronghold, he or she is your father. Appreciate yourself, appreciate them, and remind yourself today that it's your day, so that like a father, you are never giving up but always strong, even when the world is against you.

Let this day strengthen your soul and spirit, to recommit to the virtues that sets life into motion –just as a father would do.

As we celebrate Father's day, let us be reminded once again of all the sacrifices that our fathers have made for us.

Let us wake up every day with immense gratitude towards our fathers for the Love that they have for us. With that, let it be our goals –to be the best of our selves –for it is the goals of our Fathers too.

Let us make them proud for Fathers are our Gods on Earth!

If you are a Father, WE THANK YOU AND WE APPRECIATE WHO YOU ARE!