“Leap of Faith”

By

Gerry Niskern

When you think about it, Fathers have always taken a “giant leap of faith”

My grandfather brought his young wife, pregnant with their second child from Austria to the United States with only the vague promise of a job in a coal mine in Pennsylvania. He finally got the job in West Virginia and worked ten hour days for six days a week. It was back breaking work, with bad accidents and cave ins often. He managed to buy a large piece of land to farm to supplement the food supply for his large family. That was a giant leap!

My own father who worked on crutches for years as a time study engineer in a factory drove his young   family across the United States during wartime. He needed to get to the dry climate of Arizona to have surgery to save his leg. He settled us into an Auto Court while he looked for work and found a house to start buying. He learned to service an evaporative cooler so that his family was finally cool during that sweltering August long ago!

My own kids dad worked as an Apprentice Carpenter until he got his Journeyman’s card, then he learned to install floor covering. He eventually got into sales and then consulting across the country and in foreign countries too. He provided for his family, but his travels took him away from the kids during much of their “growing up” years. He always regretted that because, you see, Father’s role was beginning to change.

Dads were starting to do more with their kids. As work changed, society changed.  Fathers gradually learned the importance of spending time with their kids and employers were more lenient with work schedules. And, of course, the dads who had their own business could sometimes coach a sports team or another kid oriented group.

That brings me to my Grandson “father”. He confided to me recently that he didn’t see the need for Father’s Day celebrations. He said, “The way I see it, the pleasure was all mine!”.