Sad. Because ours keeps repeating his mistakes, won't admit he makes them, but enjoys demeaning and demoralizing his erring children instead.
Having been a prodigal father, we accepted him even after deserting us for 18 long years. But upon his return, he was still an unchanged man. Ironically, he expected to come home to "unchanged"children. Children he could manipulate, he could scare, he could scold at whim.
His children, now all grown up and with families of their own, could not recall having learned anything sensible from him. If at all, his children learned instead to choose a good man to marry and be father to their kids. Someone who was their father's complete opposite.
Unlike a wise and mature father, ours hurt us and lambasted us when we made mistakes. None of us felt the "deep and discreet" affection which we hoped to get as a child. There were no fond memories, only hurtful ones. And after all these years, he still makes no attempt whatsoever to make up for those years gone by. Or to rectify his misdemeanors.
We even wonder if he's aware that he left us when we most needed his protection. He failed to guide us and support us. He was every inch a "softie, a weakling, and a yielding" man who allowed the circumstances to swallow him and rob him the opportunity to exercise paternity in its truest sense.
It is our prayer that no other child should experience this kind of a father.. No one, especially our own children, should have to lead a "fatherless" existence.
I wish all fathers (especially ours) get to read this. I wish all fathers would finally start emulating the example of God, our father in heaven, whose image all fathers reflect.
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