Father's Day...Really?

This is a break from "A Crossing of Paths". Enjoy!

So it's Father's day. Not exactly a heralded day on the calendar. Here's an interesting little statistic. Mother's day is the busiest day of the year for the phone company. Father's day chalks up the most collect calls made on any given day. Flower shops do not stock up with extra inventory, and the card business doesn't see a significant uptake in purchases. Well, it's no wonder, really. Consider the state of fathers in this country to begin with.
I've had plenty to gripe about when it comes to the media in this country, but the treatment of the father figure on television really makes my blood boil. If the average sitcom or animation is to be believed, the father is a pathetic duffus. Just watch the Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, just about any of your sitcoms featuring a father in the household and he is a dumb, irresponsible, klutzy, child like figure that gets absolutely no respect from his wife or his kids. If you want to see glaring examples of outright disrespect, go no further than hollywood. It's no wonder those of us who actually HAVE stuck around and helped our wives raise the kids don't exactly feel celebrated for having done so.
I have to admit, hollywood starting out in the opposite direction, painting the man of the house as this omnipotent authority figure who was wise beyond measure and could solve any problem in half an hour, who's kids feared and worshiped the ground he walked on, with a loving wife who maintained the household while he brought home the bacon. Boy, imagine how far from reality THAT idea really was! Now, Mom and Dad are both killing themselves trying to keep things together, and trying not to screw up their kids lives in the process. But the media is NOT helping matters. Let your kids watch television, or play with kids who do, and you can kiss any fear or respect they might have had for you goodbye.
I've always believed that one leads and teaches thru example, that walking the walk beats talking the talk anyday. But our children are influenced by the entire world around them, and it's those influences that either help or hinder your desire to raise a rational, well balanced child who isn't on it's way towards being a serial killer. So, I would like to suggest that on this Father's Day, and on all the ones hereafter, that we take this day to go after the media, with email, letters, protest, or whatever, and make them give us our fathers back. The fathers that treated our boo-boos, tucked us in at night, helped us build our tree-houses (without ending up in the hospital), and taught us how to ride our bikes. We are not all Homer Simpsons.