Longrangty Longchar
Dear father, today is father’s day and I thank God for keeping you and mom in good health. It’s been quite a time since we met, and the house, I can imagine, must be quite empty since almost everyone is going out eventually. Somehow, your words, said long time back, seems to come true. However, on this father’s day I would like to share some words with you and other fathers who might happen to read it.
There were times when we argued. I, standing on the Chinese proverb, “As your son grow up, treat him like your friend”, contented that sometimes you should listen to me. Well, you did listen and in turn told me many things, which I discarded immediately as nonsense. Experience has taught me now, that you were right when you told me to have faith in God, to be humble and be strong etc, etc. Somehow I have learnt that experience, though not a gentle teacher is the best teacher to learn lessons for it comes with an ultimatum that if one commits it again, then there would be repercussions. Thankfully experience has taught me not to play games with experience. I did not realize that your words were emanating from wisdom gained through experience, and I am sure that every father would like their sons to listen to their words which are not mere words but words of wisdom gained throughout the years of trials and days of tribulations. I thank God for keeping you there to share your words with me.
The saying, ‘Children never know how much their parents love them, until they have children,’ must be true, though I am yet to experience it and in no hurry to experience it. However, I see my friends, who have become young and proud fathers and mothers overnight, talking of their children with such pride and expectations and how much they love them. Sometimes, they also nostalgically admit and share that their parents might have loved them the same way. Surely, every parent might have the same feeling, you included and the feeling that you and mom having pride and expectations in us, makes us feel really proud. Perhaps, it is only the showing part in which we are lacking; because children should not be shown too much love otherwise they will become spoilt and wayward or should not be shown too little love, or else they will become cold and emotionless. There has to be a balance, and that balance can be arrived at though sitting together during the little moments, maybe after work or classes and having talks, pure and simple talks like father and son- a time to talk and a time to listen.
The world is changing, I know and with it, so am I, for better or for worse. The old ideals in me are also changing and every day is a day for learning for me. Each day simply reveals how little I know and how small I am. I can see friends and foes, rich and poor, the happy and the sad, the righteous and the evil, the wise and the stupid all around-though I am not sure in which category I fit in, but it must be many. Somehow, the world can be a lonely place also, especially in times of illness. Sometimes, even God seems distant and the prayers seem all futile- but the thought that no prayer goes unanswered, is a sweet consolation.
But for so long God has led me, and so far your silent prayers and steadfastness as a father indeed has lead me on. And surely if the fathers of the Naga society, silently pray and stay more at home with their children, sharing their words of wisdom and lead their children in the right way, then perhaps, the evils of the society especially rape, thefts and other social evils would be checked. After all, the goodness or the badness of a society starts from the family-and the responsibilities in a family do not rest only with the mothers; fathers do have a role to play, and on this Father’s Day I pray that the Naga fathers would introspect and see what their children are doing in their absence, and correct them with their words of wisdom gained through experience.
Happy Father’s Day, we love you.
