It’s Father’s Day weekend – so I got to thinking.  Bothered kind of thinking, you know?

You see, I know a Father.  He’s brilliant, witty, kind, and was almost a second Dad to me when I was growing up.  He’s getting on in years.  He’s a slight bit older than my own Dad.  And he likes to express his views – admidst many seriously bad punny jokes – and he expresses them extremely well.  With real words that we used to have to learn the meaning of in school and even (oh, horrors!) had to spell them – correctly.  But I digress . . .

This occurred to me, as I was thinking about how I missed my friend’s political commentaries, which were gentlemanly thoughtful comments climbing upstream in a torrid of downstream screaming and degrading nonsense (conservative and liberal alike.)

I cannot enjoy his commentary now because his posts are edited, because his political views are offensive to some of his family.

And so I have to ask:  IS such a thing okay?

I wonder if perhaps this Father on Father’s Day needs an advocate more than he needs a muzzle.  Who decided that when a belief is different than someone else’s that is it offensive?  That it must be silenced?  Isn’t that the Nazi way?  The evil empire way?  I know that if I chat “I love Jesus” in China, people will show up at my door and they will not be friendly and they will have guns.  It’s a pretty good way to silence me.  That is, after all, the idea.

My Dad is a fabulous lover of people. He taught me to care – deeply – for the needs and rights of others.  He taught me to consider their needs above my own.  And to think for myself.  So I didn’t vote for the same candidate that he did.  It doesn’t change the fact that he’s my Dad and I love him.  And he has the right to voice his opinion.  After all, WE LIVE in America!

America, of all the places in the world, is the place where a Dad ought to be able to express his views and not be edited off of his own facebook page.  In fact, I might go as far as to say that his rights as an American citizen are being violated, since FREE SPEECH is one of them.

Honor thy Father and thy Mother.  It’s not necessarily the American way (thanks, Disney ,Hollywood, entertainment in general) but it is the Godly way.   It’s not all about “me” or even my progeny.   It’s about respect, and honor and doing the right thing – even if it makes you uncomfortable.  IF someone is elderly, can’t quite remember the word they’re looking for, has a limp or uses a walker are they somehow not human beings with feelings and a voice that deserves to be heard?  Suddenly they need to yield to those whose opinions count more?  Be edited?

My Dad, my friend’s Dad, they are human beings.  Just like me.  Just like their grandchildren.  When you insult them, their feelings are hurt.  When you hit them, they bruise.  When you cut them, they bleed.  When you decide they shouldn’t be heard because its embarrassing, or offensive, or not what you want to hear, they are victimized.

No one should take away their voice for any reason.  We did it to our friends of a different color, we did it to women, we do it still to the poor, to the people who are different than us and therefore can not possibly be human beings like us . . . and we fought long and hard to correct these wrongs.  People died to correct these wrongs.  Silencing ANYONE leaves them vulnerable because no one can hear them, and then it is a slippery slope down to slighting them in other ways.  And who will know?  Who will care?  No one can hear them, so no one will come.

It most certainly does matter.  One day we, too, will be old.  We will want to be heard.  We will want people (our children, our grandchildren) to see us as people and treat us as they would want to be treated.  We will want to pass along the wisdom that we have gained throughout the years.  We will want our families to see us as an asset, not a burden to hide away and shush.

I hope my friend had a great Father’s Day.  I hope to be encouraged by his words once more someday soon.  At the very least this has taught me to make sure I do not curtail the rights of my own Dad or Mom.  I sure hope my kids feel the same when I get “old.”  (They might think I am already – but I’m fighting against it desperately, because, well, old people, you know, they’re just not as cool . . . )

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there.  The conservative ones, the liberal ones, the ones who gave up so much for the sake of their children, so they could be silenced by them . . . (Oops, did I say that out loud?)

Go hug your Dad – even if he doesn’t think the same as you.  Ask him what he thinks or don’t.  Talk about the Red Sox instead.  But regardless, how much can it hurt to lay aside your own wants and your own feelings and allow someone you love to be respected and affirmed and rest easy that they are seen as a real person with needs and wants and desires that should be protected and encouraged as much as our own needs, wants and desires.  Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.  I’m pretty sure someone quite famous said that once.  He made it look easy.  Trusted His Father so much that He let us beat him and spit on Him and make fun of Him – silence Him – so that we could call His Father our own.

If I sound a little angry about this, (outraged even?) maybe you think I’m taking it too far, too personally, well, I am hoping you are not one of my kids about to shut down Cher’s blog . . . ‘cause I have a lot of other really offensive, brilliant ideas to bat around in the future.  Am I too old to say them?  Too old to put them in print?  Too old for my ideas to matter anymore and so I should sit back and be quiet?  If we allow one person to be shut down for any reason, we are paving the way for our own rights to be eroded away.

Happy Father’s to my Dad.  I love you.  I love who you are.  I love who you made me.  And I love that as my Dad you will always be able to embarrass me, make me uncomfortable, disagree with me and I will be glad that you have the freedom to do so.  I will be glad to fight for you to have that freedom, because I value you as a person – not because I agree with you or like confrontation.

I can only hope that others will reconsider their coddling and do the same.  Not because it is comfortable, but because it is the right thing to do.  God bless America!  God bless Americans.  Lord, help us to do the good and right and honorable thing, no matter how hard, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable or even offensive it might seem – help us to be more like You.  Amen.  (Yes, I said the God Word, and I even talked about Jesus.  It’s my right.  It’s my Freedom.  Go ahead, just try and show up at my door with a gun.)