Touching Father's Day 2015

(Baonghean) - Along with Mother's Day (the second Sunday of May), Father's Day is also an opportunity for us to express our love and remember our great fathers, whether far away or close by. Father's Day is chosen by many countries on the third Sunday of June. This year, this special holiday falls on June 21.

Father's Day originated in the United States in 1910, from the story of Sonora Louise Smart Dodd. She lived in Shokane, Washington, and had a father named William Jackson Smart, a veteran of the American Civil War. His wife unfortunately passed away while giving birth to their youngest child. Since then, the father has been a single father raising 6 children until adulthood. As the eldest child, she witnessed and understood all the hardships of a father who had to raise 6 children alone. For Dodd, her father is a symbol of sacrifice, forgiveness, and tolerance. Admiring her father's sacrifice and boundless love for his family, Dodd decided to call for the establishment of a day to commemorate the father's merits. With the help of pastors and the Young Men's Christian Association, Father's Day was celebrated in 1910. Since then, Father's Day has been promoted to become one of the National Holidays in the United States. It was not until 1972 that President Richard Nixon signed and declared Father's Day an official national holiday in the country and commemorated on the third Sunday of June each year.

Although not as popular as Valentine's Day (February 14), along with Mother's Day, Father's Day is considered a special occasion of the year for children to express their gratitude to their fathers. Illustration photo: AFP

Since then, Father's Day has been enthusiastically supported by many countries around the world. The purpose of this day is that, along with Mother's Day, children have the opportunity to express and show their love and respect for their fathers. In the world, in addition to the third Sunday of June, there are many other days to celebrate Father's Day, but in general, any anniversary includes flowers, gifts, a cozy dinner with father and intimate family activities.

The day we were born, our first feelings in life were the warm, loving embrace of our mother. However, there was still someone who silently looked at us with sparkling eyes full of gentle love and a smile filled with happiness, our father, and only our father. Our mother could be the one who is always by our side, taking care of us from the smallest things, seeing us grow up every minute and second, confiding in us at all times. Our father is different, he silently and silently tries to fight to protect the whole family, is the "tall tree with the biggest shade", is the shoulder for everyone to lean on in times of trouble. That man may be a man of few words, but every action and gesture is always full of love, protecting and shaping us...

Just like mother, there is always an invisible connection between father and child. This connection is somewhat quieter, more silent than with mother but is extremely profound and will always arise strongly at decisive moments. In the first moments of the journey called life, father stood silently observing us, smiling. Throughout that journey, and until the very last moments, that man still quietly smiled affectionately, was still there whenever we needed him, always opened his arms wide to welcome us...

We often forget about the great sacrifice of our fathers and their role in shaping our lives. The time we spend with our fathers may not be as much as with our mothers, who are always by our side. However, distance and time mean nothing when our fathers are always present in our hearts, deep and strong. Just one Father's Day will never be enough, let's make every day of the year a Father's Day, a Mother's Day, a Birth Day, so that one day we will never have to regret, and be proud that our lives have always been full of love.

Nhat Minh