Happy Father’s Day, by Noemi Rabina

In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, proposed a special day to honor her father, Henry Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who raised his children after the wife died in giving birth to the sixth child. He gathered all his strength, showing his unselfish love by raising successful children all by himself. June 19, her father’s birthday, was proposed to be “Father’s Day.” All over the world, fathers have been adored, respected and loved. More than being bread winners, fathers serve as role models whom we admire and look up to in times of triumph and failures, joy and sorrow.

I remember my own father, Pacifico Santiago, who did not have an easy life while he was growing up. He was raised by his aunt after his mother died, probably at child birth. At a very young age, he worked to support himself and his aunt. He got married and had five daughters. My mother was a stay home Mom in the fullest sense, taking care of us and doing all the house work. Both did not even reach high school.

My father’s dream was to give all of us, his five daughters, a career that will give us a chance to have a better life than what he had. He kept telling us that no one is to get married until we finish college. He was the only bread winner and we had a tight budget on things that others enjoy. But when it comes to things we need in school, he was always ready to provide. He gave us all that we need, not every thing that we want. His dream of a better life for us was realized when each one had finished a career.

Father’s Day is a day not only to honor fathers all over the world, but all men who portray a father figure or act as a father. Grandfathers, stepfathers, uncles, cousins, nephews, brothers, and adult male friends are to be honored on this special day. Greet them a “Happy Father’s Day” with a smile, a kiss or a hug. They will surely appreciate it.