The events of the just concluded Father’s Day “celebration” (if indeed it can be referred to as a celebration) have prompted me to write this article albeit late. Father’s Day is generally an after-thought in Nevis when compared to Mother’s Day. While Mother’s Day is usually used as a day to celebrate Mother’s, Father’s Day is almost always used to castigate and verbally castrate men for their absenteeism, apathetic and asinine behaviour as it relates to their children. Indeed the failure of some men to play the role of Fathers is one of the most glaring lacunas in the Nevisian society. However there are indeed great fathers and while our society has not been accustomed to celebrate the good, I want to use this article to do exactly that by paying tribute to my father, Mr. Hastings Ronaldo Daniel.

Anyone who knows my dad knows that he is no ordinary person and indeed he has also been an extra-ordinary father to me. I thank God almost daily that I was so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be moulded and mentored by a man like my dad. I remember as a child almost idolizing him and wanting to trying on his clothes and shoes when I was in primary school although they drowned me. Such was the stature of the man that I wanted very early to mimic him. However my dad for me is less known for his stature and more for his spirituality, his sanguinity, and his sagacity. These are the three S’s on which I would like to focus on to praise my dad.

Spirituality

I grew up in a Christian home where the Bible was not just a book but central to one’s development. From as early as I could remember, I never ever was allowed to miss church and had to be in my bible daily. These were practices that were reinforced by my dad. He threw himself into the work of God and his church. He would have served in almost every capacity in church besides the choir because his voice was never melodic. Nevertheless he was a man who practiced reading his bible regularly and can at anytime quote a scripture in the bible that applies to virtually anything. Christianity was not a mere religion but a way of life. For him, church was not a social occasion but an institution where your were groomed as a Christian, an individual and even a professional. He would regularly comment that everything about him that is good is primarily due to his Christian faith and his involvement in the church. That is why there was never a task too great or no money too great for him to do or give to his church. However, it his unabashed faith in God I admire in him above everything else because irrespective of the circumstances that I have seen him faced with, he would rest confident in the assurance that he can look to the hills from whence cometh his help. There was no situation too desperate whether emotionally, financially, professionally or physically for him to forget that if God so clothe the grass of the field, that God would also clothe him. It is a faith like this more than anything is one that I wish would be bequeathed to me as his son.

Sanguinity

My dad never knew how to be depressed or diffident. As I mentioned earlier, he never knew how to worry always believing that none of us by worrying can add a single hour to their lives. Instead he would just smile at every situation with a presumed confidence that everything would work out. As a matter of fact, my father has mastered the ability to joke about almost everything just on the spur on the moment and within the moment. His humour was always a welcome panacea and it was commonplace for my mother and I to just revel in his whit and humour whether it was just the three of us or whether he was in a crowd. We would laugh so much that we would forget that my dad was still without a job, or that I still did not have money for my school fees or that we were still rotating which bills we would pay in any given month. His humour and confidence made you forget that there was ever any bad times and he lived the aphorism that tough times don’t last but tough people do. Whether he was walking through town with two cents or two thousand dollars in his wallet, his confident gait would never change. He just knew that everything would be okay and that tomorrow was another opportunity to make the memories of yesterday seem distant.

Sagacity

I continue to see my dad as one of the wisest men I know. People from all walks of life would always seek him out for counsel on everything from marriage to politics to financial planning. Again, it was like my dad just always knew exactly what to do in any given situation. That is why even when I was sure I had all my “I’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed that I would still pass my plans by him. The wonderful thing about it is that I never had to go very far to get advice from one of the wisest men I knew. The thing I like most about his ability, is not just his ability to give you three options but his ability to make a decision and stand by it. I have found in my professional and personal development that one would attend a meeting or conference and there are people there who have the ability to show you the pros and cons of every possible action without making a decision. That to me is a sign of weakness for fear of possible backlash. Not my dad. He would decide tomorrow that he is going to paint his house black inside and out and that would be that. He had his reasoning although it might not be easily recognizable to others and most times he would be right when all is said and done. His willingness to make a decision showed me that we ought not let the fear of making a mistake prevent us from acting altogether. Of course one could not afford to be static as an entrepreneur and the business knowledge that he has passed on to me over the course of working with him since 1997 part time and full time since 2005 is simply priceless. My ability to spread my wings in business is not simply because of my academic training but because of the training, moulding and insight of my dad. Thank God for a Father like mine.

There are other dads that need to be celebrated and that not all of them are missing in action or deadbeat. We need not look too far to be find men that are excellent fathers to their children and even find some single dads around. All is not lost in Queen City Nevis. Therefore we should not simply overlook Fathers Day but celebrate it for those that are great dads as well as encourage those who are to come to be excellent examples to their children. I firmly believe that as we celebrate the good fathers around us that others would want to mimic them and we can start the process of creating better Nevisian fathers. Let us celebrate our good fathers.