Jim Ellis Editor, Legacy Magazine
A piece of prose about men, fatherhood, and the stand we’ll all have to take.
Father’s Day
The day for the father
The one we celebrate
And hold high
For all he has given, all he has protected, all he has embraced
In love
Father’s Day
We stand for the man
Who has taken sword upon sword
In this day and age
Laws that strike him down
Pummeling his rights, like punches in the stomach
Stealing his children in the night
Offering weekends and holidays, but only if he is good
And only if he can afford it
Paying with his freedom if he can not
Father’s Day
Eluding the slings and arrows
As dresses and wigs are placed neatly upon actors
And Hollywood and Broadway kick him in the balls
And make him weaker and smaller
For the drama and the comedy TV skit
As false accusations of abuse slide by without consequence …
As DNA tests are discarded for the benefit of a woman wanting paychecks for someone else’s child …
As military men are in great number filling tombs and shallow graves …
We still hear cries for equality and “women and children first”
Father’s Day
Remembering what once was – when men were men
When steady confidence did not have to sway
When choices were made in the black and white
And lines were not crossed without consequence
Not mean, not harsh, but strict like the laws of gravity
Remembering when men held their word as their bond
When community and family were to be protected
When wives and the feminine were to be cherished and honored
Not emulated
When men rose to identities of esteem and not identities of target
And blame
When men were men
When men were men
Something to celebrate – this Father’s Day
The day of the father