Letter to the Editor

Dads should be heroes

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

To the editor:

When I was just a few years old, I lived in a farm house in front of a farm a few miles west of Gosnell. I remember walking to the backyard and watching the tractors and trucks, swinging or playing in the back yard. I remember sitting in the back yard watching for my dad.

Many nights he would get off extremely late during harvesting season. I remember sometimes my mom would let me go to the shop and walk with him to the house. Sometimes we would race (and he'd let me win occasionally) but mostly just walk.

My dad was and still is my hero. I consider myself lucky. I have a father that worked all hours of the day to provide for his family. I have a dad that has given up things so that my siblings and I would have what he never had. I have a father that puts God first and takes the family to church every week.

There were times you could tell he just felt like giving up but he never did. He wouldn't stop doing those little things that he's supposed to do as a dad. Today, my dad still works hard as ever. Calluses on his hands, a few wrinkles, some gray hair and of course, we still go to church as a family every week. There are values he instilled in all of us that will last a lifetime.

Statistics show that kids do better with their dad around. My prayer is that more men will step up to the plate and be the father and husband that God has called them to be. Proverbs says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." I don't know how my life would have turned out had I not had the father that God gave to me.

Happy Father's Day to all the men stepping up and being a father to their children or someone else's. To the women who have to be both parents to their children, Happy Father's Day and God bless you because I know it's not easy. For those of you that do not have an earthly father, just know that you have a Heavenly Father that loves you and cares for you. And to my father, thanks for doing all the things you have done for our family. Thank you for being hard on me when I needed it most. Thank you for being a man of your word and a man of His. Thank you.

William M. King III
Gosnell