DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /15 June) — I just checked my Facebook wall, and as I expected, there are a lot of postings wishing their Tatay, Papa, Dad – Happy Father’s Day.
Despite a tendency towards cynicism, a friend had this posting on his FB all: To all my father friends, don’t expect this day to be special to us. That is falling into the trap of commercialism. Everyday is father’s day. Enjoy this day like you have everyday in your life with your wives, sons and daughters. This is coming from a father who is at the moment very happy despite the normal problems of family and fatherhood.
The senior citizens among us may have a hard time linking up with what is a recent construct of the market in order to sell more goods in the malls. Father’s Day only entered our calendars in the recent years, following the commercial introduction of Mother’s Day. These days these kind of days have mushroomed; to my surprise, recently in FB walls, siblings were greeting each other – Happy Sibling’s Day! So what’s next: Happy Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Daughters/Sons-in-Law, Nephews/Nieces, Grandchildren, Godchildren Days? Well trust the greedy appetite of the capitalist market and some bright advertising upstart who will come up with another Day to be celebrated by all of us who have fallen under the spell of these marketing schemes!
But can joining the celebrations of today be so foolish? But then as the song goes – fools rush in where angels fear to tread! (a phrase that originally was part of Alexander Pope’s 1709 poem – An Essay on Criticism). If this phrase is to mean – “ the rash of inexperienced will attempt things that wiser people are more cautious of” (see: