6-Year-Old Boy Walks to His U.S. Marine Father for the First Time

Tears of love and joy

http://youtu.be/LqPlBy2-abA

Dad

I was thinking about posting this Fathers' Day about the socio-economic impact of  fathers being relegated out of the family, being made out to be idiots and losers by popular culture. New statistics out show an alarming picture of the impact of this mindset on us all. I started to think about my own father though. He was, without a doubt, an amazing man.

Dad's Navigational "Computer"

He was a bombardier/navigator in WWII, Pacific theater. He told me once when we shared a couple war stories, that at Pearl Harbor, he ran to the armory to get a weapon and all that was left were pistols, and he felt pretty exposed and defenseless. I would say so. He told me too that he was amazed that the kind of war I fought in, jungle guerrilla warfare was something he would have had a tough time dealing with. I told him that what he did was crazy, being up in the air, and if he was shot down, where ya gonna go? I've just gone through my memorabilia box of his stuff. His "navigational computer", training flight log, pics of his buddies there in Hawaii, flight engineer log book, completion of training certificates for Aircraft Mechanic in 1941 at Hickam Field Hawaiian Technical School, Air Mechanic Trouble Shooter for the B-29 in Amarillo Army Air Field in Texas.There's his orders assigning him to the 39th Bombardment Squadron 6th Bombardment Group. 

Then there's his Air Medal:

"For meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flights as combat crew members in successful combat missions against the Japanese Empire. All missions were flown under rapidly changing and often-times adverse weather conditions. The flights were subjected to enemy anti-aircraft fire and fighter opposition. There were constantly present difficult navigational problems, danger of engine failure and consequent ditching many miles at sea. Under prolonged periods of physical and mental strain, and undaunted by the many hazards faced regularly and continuously, each crew member displayed such courage and skill in the performance of his duty as to reflect great credit on himself and the Army Air Forces."

In Dad's High School Year Book, North High,  Syracuse NY, 1940, the comment beside his picture:

"'Joe' joined this world on May 28, 1921. He is one of those silent few who can get results without asking too many questions. We have some inside dope that tells us he wants to be an aviator." The class motto by the way was, "Our lives are what our thoughts make them."

His aviation class book pictures him, the dashing, handsome aviator in cravat. One of my aunts said he cut quite the figure in those days. 

Dad was a man who could do anything. He took apart aircraft engines, car engines, did plumbing and electrical wiring, put in the lawn sprinklers, did landscaping, and carpentry. He made his living as an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed from the end of the war until his retirement. He used to joke, 'I can't even spell aeronautical engineer, and now I are one', and laugh. He was a calm man of great humility.

I saw him cry after the divorce, which was unnerving for a ten year old. This man's man, aviator, the man who could do everything, cried? He was an emotional and caring man.  

He raised us right. He has two accomplished sons. I spent more time with him than my brother because I lived with him and my stepmother about half my high school years. We all know how screwed up teenagers are, and I know I gave him more than enough grief. It was clear he understood though, and at the same time forced me to get off my duff, get some direction in my life, and produce. Most grownups and others I knew told me what I couldn't do, what I couldn't accomplish. He told me what I could accomplish, and made decisions that forced me out of my shell. I didn't like it, and got angry, but he was right. He helped me get started in college, supported my military service, and even until his death in the late eighties I relied on him for insight and guidance. Some say they have no regrets in life. I have a few, one of them being that in my twenties and thirties I was more motivated by sex, drugs and rock 'n roll than spending time with him and appreciating him.    

Here's to my father, and to all fathers that raised good kids, lived a good life, and did the right thing.

Color Him Father - The Winstons (1969)

http://youtu.be/NveYd4XZ0Gk

Thoughts on Families and Fathers on 100th Anniversary of Fathers' Day

The original father celebrated by Fathers' Day was a Civil War veteran named William Jackson Smart. He had five sons and a daughter, and his wife died giving birth to the sixth child. He was a single dad.

The daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd, started this day in 1910 to honor her father. People at the founding of this country recognized the importance of a father and mother to raise well rounded children. John Adams: "The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?" His wife Abigail: "What is it that affectionate parents require of their Children; for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, Benevolent and kind."

Atlantic Monthly magazine, a bastion of secular Statism, has an article, "Are Fathers Necessary?" Their contention is that the stats supporting the necessity of a father aren't valid because stats compare married heterosexual couples and their children, to single fathers and mothers. To be valid they say, the comparison should be how children do when raised by homosexual couples. Of course they say that female homosexual couples raise better children than male homosexual couples. Even if you're a homosexual male, you're still male, and found to be an inferior human being.

This is based on one article, in the Journal of Marriage and Family, written by Judith Stacey, a sociology professor at New York University, and Timothy Biblarz, a demographer from the University of Southern California. Since this is supposed to be a social "science", what's the control group and has the data been gathered and analyzed by others with the same results? The anti-traditionalist agenda is to destroy the nuclear family. Then it will truly "take a village" to raise kids. Children raised by the State will be more compliant to the State. Indoctrination through the alleged education system doesn't quite get the job done; some make it through as free thinkers. They do that because there are enough families to help the kid resist the indoctrination.

The stats themselves? From the CDC, DoJ, DHHS and the Bureau of the Census: 30 percent of children who live apart from their fathers will account for 63 percent of teen suicides, 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions, 71 percent of high-school dropouts, 75 percent of children in chemical-abuse centers, 80 percent of rapists, 85 percent of youths in prison, 85 percent of children who exhibit behavioral disorders, and 90 percent of homeless and runaway children.

Unnamed social worker at a juvenile detention center: "If you find a gang member who comes from a complete nuclear family, I'd like to meet him. ... I don't think that kid exists."

Children raised by the State will of course manifest all the social pathologies and deviant behavior not found in most children raised by mom and dad. That will in turn justify more of a police state. Nice if you're a Statist.

Confucius: “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.”

There's a natural order to things, and anti-traditionalist, secular Statists, must interrupt that order to control according to their belief system. Even to the extent that they need to publish, for Fathers' Day, an article bashing men in general, fathers specifically, and stating that women are superior.

The article ends: "The bad news for Dad is that despite common perception, there’s nothing objectively essential about his contribution. The good news is, we’ve gotten used to him." Can you say "sexism"?

Men and women are both equally necessary to form families, raise children and provide a sound foundation for a functioning society. Lets keep dad around and help families stay together by keeping the State out of the nuclear family.

Ronald Reagan on Fatherhood

"'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,' Solomon tells us. Clearly, the future is in the care of our parents. Such is the responsibility, promise and hope of fatherhood. Such is the gift that our fathers give us. Our fathers bear an awesome responsibility -- one that they shoulder willingly and fulfill with a love that asks no recompense. By turns both gentle and firm, our fathers guide us along the path from infancy to adulthood. We embody their joy, pain and sacrifice, and inherit memories more cherished than any possession. On Father's Day each year, we express formally a love and gratitude whose roots go deeper than conscious memory can recite. It is only fitting that we have this special day to pay tribute to those men -- our natural fathers, adoptive fathers and foster fathers -- who deserve our deepest respect and devotion. It is equally fitting, as we recall the ancient and loving command to honor our fathers, that we resolve to do so by becoming ourselves parents and citizens who are worthy of honor." --Ronald Reagan

About Men and Fathers-by Rebecca Hagelin

"In a time when many homes are marked by absentee fathers, the last thing we need to be beating up on fatherhood in general. Yet, 'dad' seems to be the only person in modern society who it is acceptable to belittle. To what extent does such treatment pervert our son's developing attitudes about the men they are expected to become? And why would we teach our daughters that there's no real hope or need to marry a strong, reliable man of character? Timeless messages about the wisdom of fathers in shows like 'Father Knows Best' have disappeared. They just aren't 'politically correct.' As a wife and mother of two young men who are being raised in an anti-male culture that spews the mantra of radical feminism, I'd like to say a few words to America's dads: We need you. Loving fathers are critical to the development of children. And the truth is that every woman is a better person when she has a good man to rely on. Dads are not an 'optional' family accessory to be tossed in the corner like dirty socks or trampled on like a door mat. We should reject the attitudes of both women who treat them that way and of any man who has bought the lie and started assuming the loser role. And we need to let our boys know that one of the greatest contributions they can make as adults is to be strong fathers who are committed to their families. ... To good husbands and dads everywhere, thank you for what you contribute to your families and to society. And to wives and mothers, let's make sure we affirm the men in our lives and teach our children to respect them too. A good man is a priceless blessing from God. Let's remember to treat them like the treasures they are." --columnist Rebecca Hagelin