Fatherhood

A boy becomes a man.  He makes love with his beloved, and one day he becomes a father.  Cycle of life begins anew.  Obviously, that is the easy part, i.e. becoming a father.  However, I am not sure if some fathers have truly earned the title of fatherhood.  I wonder if some fathers realize the true meaning of fatherhood.   To a true father, the child, the family comes before anything else.  Fatherhood is a sum total of joy, tears, responsibility, sacrifices, and continued learning.  Besides, you don’t have to be a father to earn the respect that goes with fatherhood.  A foster father, a grandfather, or a father who raises an orphan is a father too.  There is no text book on Fatherhood.  Besides, book-learning will not necessarily make you a good father.  Fatherhood is an on-the-job training that will test your metal to see if you are worthy of the fatherhood title.  Fatherhood means knowing the meaning of love, even if it is tough love or unspoken love at times, knowing the responsibility and making the sacrifices with expectation of no return for the sake of the child to turn that child into a responsible, compassionate, self-reliant and decent human being so that that child someday can be a responsible parent and earn the respect for parenthood.  Mythological Lord Krishna was raised not by his own parents, but by Nanda and Yashoda and therefore He is better known as the son of Nanda and Yashoda.  I was raised by my grandparents and to me, in reality my father is my grandfather although I carry the genes of my birth parents, but they had no role in my growing up.  So, on father’s day and mother’s day I only reminisce the time I had with my grandparents.  They have been gone for many years now.  But even when they are gone, they have been always with me.  I am not sure I measure up to their standards.  I am still a work in progress, although I am a grandfather myself now.  You never stop learning about fatherhood.  You continue learn from your children and grandchildren about love, truth and sacrifice till the end of your time.