Alice at 18 Months

Fathers Day??

This Sunday is Fathers Day. There aren't many holidays that I dread more than Fathers Day.

My father died more than forty years ago. He and my mother divorced when I was five or six. I only saw him a few times after that. He was a hard working man. I guess that I may have inherited that quality. He was also a heavy smoker and an alcoholic. Alcohol destroyed his life and in the end it caused his death. I have already lived twenty years longer than he did.

Did my father influence my life in the few short years that I knew him? Of course he did. He was a heavy smoker. I have never smoked anything. That's no cigarettes, no cigars, no pipes, no pot. He was an alcoholic. I have had less than twenty drinks in my life, the last one in 1975. I have never had a beer. I march to the tune of my own drum and it's playing "Don't take a chance with that".

We live in a society today where single mothers are raising a lot of our children. This doesn't work and never will work. The role of men has been reduced in many cases to that of "sperm donor". Sometimes that decision is made by irresponsible men and sometimes it is made by women who think that single parent families are the norm.

Vernon Robinson, perennial political candidate in this area, has been preaching on this subject for years. He strongly believes that the biggest problem facing America is the destruction of the family unit. A lot of this is due to government programs that encourage single parent families. Before you waste your time arguing with this, I will remind you that the first rule in modifying human behavior is this: Any activity that you reward, you reinforce.

I would ask my sons about their opinions of Fathers Day, but I will wait to open the gifts first. HA!!!