A Father’s Day Tribute

Father’s day is celebrated on June 20th every year. The coronavirus has got us locked in our homes that it is impossible to celebrate anything these days. Ordering gifts from online sites have become so difficult due to the lockdown restrictions. This post is meant to be a surprise for my father. This is not meant to be a thank you note wherein I’ll mention the countless things that my father has done for me. But it’s much more than that.

Dads are often under-rated and they should not be. They bear the burden of the family as much as mothers but don’t get appreciated much. Knowingly or unknowingly, my father has influenced me in so many ways. I’ve learnt a lot from him over the years that I wish to share with the world. So here are 10 important lessons I learnt from my father.

1.Money isn’t everything.

My father taught me early on that money will help you get almost everything in life but the most important things can’t be bought with it. Family comes first in life. Life will turn ugly if you focus only on earning money because in the end only you and your money will be there and that’ll be the loneliest feeling ever.

2.It’s foolish to make enemies in life.

My father doesn’t believe in keeping lifelong grudges. He’s always told me that we all need each other and we can’t live in isolation. If you hate someone the person who’ll end up getting hurt will be none other yourself and your heart will be heavy with no space to love anyone.

There will be people whose thoughts and perspectives will be different from ours. If they keep hurting your feelings and try to bring you down keep a distance from them and never hate them. People are different and have their own opinions. Life is too short to keep any grudges.

3.Nothing tastes as sweet as hard work.

"Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit " - Helena Rubinstein

My father believes that there is no shortcut to success other than hard work. He has always said that no matter what hard work always pays off in the end. I too believe that working hard consistently will definitely reward us. He says that whatever you do in life you should enjoy it otherwise work will appear to be really monotonous and exhaustive.

If you love what you do you won’t even feel like you’re working and you won’t mind spending hours doing your job. My father believes that you should always give your 100% while working and never pursue any shortcuts to attain your goals.

4.Face your fears

My father has always said that on the other side of fear lies success and if you don’t face it, you will fall prey to it. Fear is always good to a particular extent but if it goes beyond that it will consume you preventing you from experiencing wonderful things in life.

Fear is more like a voice which is screaming for attention that must be silenced immediately or else it will take over your mind. Getting rid of your fears is tough but small steps matter the most and they will help you to tackle them gracefully.

5.Be straightforward

My father doesn’t have the habit of sugar-coating words. His words are sharp and he never gives false hope. But he is also sensible enough not to hurt feelings by speaking out bluntly. He has told me that honesty is your biggest asset and if you lie to your own self, you will lose yourself completely.

6.Think with your mind and feel with your heart.

Sometimes we will be so influenced by our emotions that logic will take a backseat. This might create disastrous results. At times we have to push ourselves to do what’s right. In order to make logical decisions, we should not be over- influenced by our emotions.

7. Always stand by what you believe in

If you keep changing your word no one will consider you seriously. We have to stand by what we believe in and not change our opinions according to the situation. Our word is like a promise and it’s important to not make promises you can’t keep.

8.Don’t take anything too personally.

We should not take anything too personally. We may not always be surrounded by people we love or we may not be in comfortable situations all the time. Sometimes it could be a hurtful word or deed which might upset us. But if we take it personally it will affect our thinking and even our daily activities. We must learn to let go of it and keep moving forward.

9.Punctuality is key.

"Punctuality is not about being on time,it's basically about respecting your own commitments" -A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Time and tide wait for no man. This has got to be my father’s favourite idiom. He always says that come what may we should never be late. Tardiness is something which he hates the most and he always makes it a point to be on time.

10.Your personality speaks before you.

Personality includes the way we speak, think and behave. Personality speaks for itself. My father says that even something as simple as a handshake says a lot. A handshake should be firm but not too firm. Even personal hygiene matters. A good personality is not something that we cannot cultivate in a day but something that we need to work on .

These are some important lessons I learnt from my father. Until a few years back my father would drop me off at college and on the way, we would tune in to the radio and listen to it. There was this program (the name of which I don’t remember clearly), where the host was actually an aged person who would narrate interesting stories of the world trips that he made with his wife post - retirement. This radio program went on for a while and just as all good things come to an end, it did too.

Knowing fully well that in the coming days we would have to travel in silence with nothing to listen to, my father found a solution to it. He took membership in the nearby library and borrowed a heap of books. From the next day onwards, my father narrated stories from these books one by one.

This was how I went to college, listening to stories with much eagerness and enthusiasm. I would imagine the endings of unfinished stories and write about them during my class time. I even wrote a lot of poems. So, I have to say my father is responsible for sowing the seeds of writing in me. Of all the things that my father has done for me, I’m super grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to think and imagine endless possibilities which have helped me to write with confidence and vivid imagination.

So, on this note, I’d like to wish my own father and all the Dads around the world who care for their family and would go to any end to protect them a very happy father’s day.