June 13, 2011
In honor of fathers and Father’s Day…
“If everybody jumped off of a cliff would you jump too?”
“Your brain’s not there to part your ears!”
“Honesty is the best policy!”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right!”
“He who hesitates is lost!”
“Strike while the iron is hot!”
“You’ve gotta take the bull by the horns!”
“Money don’t grow on trees!”
“If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing to the best of your ability!”
“If you’d put things back where they belong you’d know where to find them!”
“The job don’t get done lookin’ at it!”
“A farting horse will never tire and the farting man’s the man to hire!”
“Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today!”
“Don’t do as I do, do as I say.”
Was your dad a cliché man? My Dad was the King of Clichés. He has mellowed quite a bit in his old age, but in his prime he could rattle off a tapestry of clichés that was a thing of beauty.
A number of years ago I sat down and tried to figure out all the key “life lessons” my dad had taught me. I began to realize we had not really had many eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart, “…these are the secrets to life…” talks. How then did I learn the key lessons about life that I know now? I then discovered the essence of my dad as a true cliché man. Dad’s wisdom for life was imparted to me through the repetition of clichés. Now these clichés may seem trite, but they are packed with wisdom for those who have ears to hear.
My suspicion is that there are many of us out there who have dads that are cliché men. When we sit down and think about our dads we remember all the little aggravating, trite sayings we used to hear over and over and over… If we stop for a minute and analyze these sayings we will see that they are actually packed with wisdom for living. For many of us these clichés are the legacy our dads’ have left us. These clichés, or more accurately the wisdom contained within them, are the nuggets of gold that have been left to us as sons to pass on, as fathers, to our sons.
I think most of us who are fathers now understand that being a father is a really tough job; we’re all simply trying to do the best that we know how – just like our fathers.
So let’s give thanks for and honor our fathers for the wisdom that they imparted to us, though cloaked in many ways – including as clichés.
I would love to hear about your father and how he imparted wisdom to you. I would particularly love to hear all the clichés that he may have used to father you. I will not be able to reply to all your responses, but that doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing from you…
Proverbs 4:1
“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.”
Proverbs 1: 20, 21
“Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:”
Deuteronomy 5:16
“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”