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Perspective: Dads, We Salute You

Tim Mossholder
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Unsplash

Well, another Father’s Day is upon us. While it won’t get the commercial hype Mother’s Day receives, it’s still an important day of remembrance.

Mother’s Day isn’t complete without taking the mothers in your life out to eat. Somehow on Father’s Day, dads end up grilling for the entire family; talk about inequality! I’m preparing to see what combination of socks, t-shirts, and underwear I receive this year. I asked for an all-expense paid trip to Tampa Bay on October 24th for the Chicago Bears versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.

All jokes aside, being a dad is the greatest job, gift, and responsibility a man can embrace. I was blessed to be raised in a house with my role model; my father. He wasn’t a hugger or the type to say “I love you” every day, but my siblings and I wanted for nothing. My Pops demonstrated love by being an amazing family man, being respected in the community, and sacrificing so his children could have. Now as a grandfather he definitely isn’t the disciplinarian he was when I was growing up; my kids get whatever they want from him.

As the father of three teenagers, 13, 14, and 19, there are days I wish they would forget my name, yet I wouldn’t trade the title and responsibility of “dad” for anything. Statistics are clear on how important it is for fathers to be in their children’s lives. Last year after 25 years of being estranged my father-in-law and wife re-entered each other’s life. I had the privilege of witnessing their reunion: It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen and now they talk every day.

While our names most likely won’t be on a marquee for “Parent of the Year” and there aren’t many songs written about dad, know you are needed, loved, and appreciated -- not just on Father’s Day but every day!

I’m Joe Mitchell and this is my perspective.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., George Joseph “Joe” Mitchell was raised in DeKalb, where he is the bi-vocational co-pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. He earned a Business Management degree from Judson College and a Masters of Divinity from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He completed his doctorate in divinity at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He and his wife Andria are the proud parents of three.