This past week’s lesson and discussions were one of my favorites because it talks about and addresses a very important person in a lot of our lives – father. We live in turbulent and confusing times which are very different from even just 10 years ago. We’ve all heard of and know the traditional father whose role is to go out into the workforce and do whatever he can to earn money so he can provide a roof over his family’s head, place food on the table, provide for temporal things in their lives, etc. The mother, on the other hand, had the traditional role of staying at home and taking care of and nurturing her family.

Today, however, we are hearing more and more about the need for equality and how women should be more empowered, that they deserve to be in the workforce and do not have to stay home to nurture and take care of her children, that men are only goof for making money and he is only going to be worth something if he can earn money, that his worth is directly related to his earning-capabilities. In a world where the unit of the family is as important as it was in the beginning of time but with roles shifting around and boundaries being broken down, anyone would be easily confused and lost.

My biggest takeaway from this week’s lesson was that fatherhood matters, no matter what the situation or circumstance may be. I have been blessed and fortunate enough to have a father a and a mother who work tirelessly together ever since they were married, to raise 4 boys and do their best so we get the best that they can offer. My father has always been my role model and someone I look up to and have high respect for. He did not go to college but had odd jobs here and there. When he and my mother got married. They were poor and had nothing. I remember them telling us about how they took an old cardboard box, flipped it over, and used it as their dining table because they could not afford anything.

My father eventually got a job with an industrial printing company and worked his bottom off to make as much as he could. He eventually got promoted several times and even got a job with a German printing company. Over a decade later he was the manager overlooking all the sales within country. There were ups and downs and he eventually ended up with a Swiss company and became their regional manager who overlooks the Asia-Pacific region. With his hard work and good ethics, together with the support of my mother, he was able to provide a comfortable life for all of us and present us with many different opportunities that have blessed our lives.

Other than providing for us temporally, my father has always presided and is the steward of out family. He makes sure he is there for us when we need him and that he is an example for all of us by treating his wife and our mother well, by making sure that we have good values and ethics, by supporting us and giving us advice whenever we need, by being a prominent and valuable father figure in our home to make sure we are good. He is also a shining example of how to be a good husband. He works together with my mother and uplifts her and making sure that she knows her worth.

I have never once in my life thought that my mother could do anything greater than what she did for all of us over the many years. She, together with my father, have been the reason why the 4 of us boys are the way we are and we owe everything to them. I believe that a father and a mother have the most important roles and when they work together no matter what the circumstances are, they are powerful and have the ability to change the course of their children’s lives.