This is Viewpoints for Sunday June 18, 2017

A special day

Father’s Day is very special. It is a day when we honor and remember our fathers, some of us may no longer have a father here with us. But one thing we do have with is is our Heavenly Father, who watches over us and puts his protective arms around us and loves us no matter what. We can always depend on him. The definition of a father is a male parent, God, an originator, an ancestor, founder, or priest.

We give special prominence to Father’s Day because the scriptures makes it clear that family destiny is determined by the father. The word father or fathers occurs in the Bible 1,500 times.

A father may be designated by different names: If wealthy and prominent “father.” If he tilled the soil “pa,” If he sat at ballgames in a short-sleeve shirt, with an open collar, “pop.” If he was a genuine pal to his children, “dad” or “daddy.”

God took the strength of a mountain, the majesty of a tree, the warmth of the summer sun, the calm of a quiet sea, the generous soul of nature, the comforting arm of night, the wisdom of the ages, the power of the eagle’s flight, the joy of a morning in spring, the faith of a mustard seed, the patience of eternity and the depth of a family need. When there was nothing more to add, God knew his masterpiece was complete. He called it “dad.”

Disappearing fathers

It’s Father’s Day, but a father is becoming less and less mentioned in America. More and more families are without a father, headed only by a mom. Someone once said, “A good man is hard to find.” So is a good father. Few in our nation use the word “father,” unless addressing a religious official.

In the old days of “Father Knows Best,” the male of the family usually was recognized as the leader of the home, but that was back in the day when movies and TV were wholesome, clean and upright. The ‘60s changed things. People changed because the nation was changing. Television was no longer wholesome, but sexual. The music changed, too and Tammy Wynett’s, D-I-V-O-R-C-E became a big hit.

Today’s dads or fathers are on the sidelines, taking orders from the moms or are not around at all. In this upside-down-world even the family is on the sidelines. Will things get better. It all depends when dads learn to become real men.

Freedom of choice

Jim Harley’s 6/13 response to Lois Robinson’s “School poor” letter 6/9 is spot on. Research online (AJC 4/18/16) shows the following per student spending in local county school districts: Bibb, $10,183; Houston, $10,060; Macon, $12,982; Bleckley, $11,225; Monroe, $10,267; Twiggs, $10,966 and Peach, $10,267.

The parents of private school students are doing what they feel is best for their children and do not want a public school system deciding the fate of their education. If Robinson is bothered by the folks in the community who do not like diversity, she should take it up with them. Do not paint all private school parents with the same brush. It is called freedom of choice and they have decided to invest in their child’s education.

Monterey Pop and Otis

This June marks the 50^th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival. It was one of the first outdoor music festivals that marked the rise of pop music in the 1960s. The festival was held on Friday-Sunday June 16-18,1967 and featured 25 of the top musical groups/artists of that time. This marked the national “break out” of my forever favorite singer and fellow Georgian, Otis Redding of Macon.

Up until his appearance at Monterey he was pretty much a regional star in the Southeast getting his beginning winning talent shows in Macon and singing in fraternity party bands. Otis was scheduled to perform on Saturday night following performances by the Beach Boys, The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane featuring the great Grace Slick. Janis Joplin was to close the show following Otis.

Otis’ back up band was made up of “Booker T & the MGs” that featured Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson, Donald Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper. This group did a lot of the background music in the Stax-Volt recording studio for many artists of the day and their music is still very popular. Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson who later became known as “The Memphis Horns” were the horn section supporting Otis that night.

The crowd was a cross section of America at that time. Otis’ high energy performance completely stunned them and he became a worldwide star that night far from home in California. The legend has it that as Janis Joplin stood waiting in the wings to go out and close the show she supposedly told the show’s promoters that she “would wait to perform the next day.” She sensed that Otis and these fabulous musicians performing with him had “stolen the show.” Unfortunately, Otis was killed only months later on December 10 in a tragic plane crash. His legend in pop music has influenced many young artists and song writers. His music lives on.

Extraordinary bravery

Mere words are inadequate to express my admiration and praise for the two Capitol Police officers who thwarted what surely would have been a major loss of life among our elected representatives in Alexandria, Virginia. Every citizen, regardless of political views, owes these two individuals more than can be paid. Armed only with short range pistols having seven to 14 rounds of ammo, and disregarding their own safety, they unhesitatingly charged toward the shooter, a deranged man armed with a more powerful and accurate rifle having up to 30 rounds of ammo, and quickly terminated the encounter with minimum loss of life. They even tried to disarm him before being forced to use their weapons. I cannot imagine the courage it took to do that. Credit also must go to their organization’s recruitment and training.

But every citizen should also realize that their exceptional bravery and skill is matched nearly every day, nationwide, by state and local law enforcement officers who defend ordinary citizens with equal bravery and skill. All of them and their departments deserve much more respect and appreciation than they receive. To copy the eloquent words of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.” His words also apply to every citizen, in every situation, everywhere.

This story was originally published June 17, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday June 18, 2017."