This Was For Dad!

What were you doing on the evening of June 16, 1996? It’s possible that you were doing the same thing as millions of other people who watched a very unusual event on TV. I remember it vividly. There on the floor of the United Center in Chicago was the great Michael Jordan rolling around clutching tightly to his chest a basketball. Now what made that so unusual was that it appeared like he was fighting to maintain possession of the ball through evasive actions. However the game was over and he really did not have to fight to get or keep the ball any longer. The Chicago Bulls had just won their fourth NBA championship and the team, along with Jordan was celebrating the historic accomplishment. But what made this post game celebration so unusual was that Jordan became so overcome with emotion that he ran crying into the Bulls dressing room. It was only after an extended period of time that Michael Jordan returned to the floor to receive the championship trophy along with his team.

Why was Michael Jordan so emotional? It had something to do with what had occurred some 3 years earlier on July 23, 1993. While returning from a funeral eight days before his 57th birthday, Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan pulled into a rest stop on Interstate 95 to take a nap. Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery shot Jordan to death while he slept in his car and then proceeded to steal the vehicle. His body was found on August 3 in a Bennettsville, South Carolinaswamp. As a result, as many watched the Chicago Bulls NBA championship celebration they watched as Michael Jordan as he not only celebrated but also grieved the memory of his father.

In a interview following the game Michael Jordan made the following statement, “This was for Dad. I never doubted that I could get back this moment, and the fact that it happened on Father’s Day makes it even more special.” What a remarkable statement of honor to make about your Dad.

Now the truth is that dads can and should make a difference in their children’s lives. They can show a daughter how a man ought to act towards them and others. They can show their sons how a father and husband should treat his children and wife. You see God has given fathers a very crucial role of leadership.

But here is the question: Has anyone seen the Loch Ness monster lately? How about the unicorn? Maybe you have spotted Big Foot? Well if you claim to have seen one of these then you will likely say that you’ve seen a perfect dad as well.

Of course that’s foolish because there is no such thing as a perfect dad. The fact is that some struggle with the fact that they have or have had dads that are pretty flawed, some more than others. They are the ones who make it very clear how much they hate Father’s Day. However despite these exceptions, most of us have had not so bad dads and we need to find more ways by which we can honor our dads despite the flaws that they sometimes have shown.

Sadly, Father’s Day has most often become a rote, mechanical celebration of fatherhood, in which children are obliged to express their profound, immortal gratitude to the big lunk who brought them into the world. Heads up, people. Alarm bells should sound when it takes an arbitrary date on the calendar to prompt a gesture of respect and affection. All we're really doing here is creating more stress for moms, who must hound their kids to cough up a card or trinket for Dad.

Now we will probably never be able to win an NBA championship in honor of our dad but surely there is something. There’s got to be something that you can do in order that he can look back on it and know that you did what you did so that you could say, “This was for dad!”