![Father\'s Day [Jun 15]](http://www.enttwist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/father-s-day-jun-15.bmp "father-s-day-jun-15")
A couple of days ago, my sister Liz and I spoke about Dad, and we decided to get him a little something together for Father’s Day. We talked about the times when we were growing up and how Mom and Dad used to play the “good cop, bad cop” thing on us. We always asked Dad, first, if we wanted something because we knew that the probability of getting a “yes” was higher. Dad wanted us to learn from our decisions, whereas Mom always asked us questions and made sure we did our chores first.
Dad has been a person of little words since we were kids. He raised us more by example than anything else. When he spoke, though, we listened, and he was always enigmatic. There was always a hidden meaning that I never got, but Liz always managed to decipher him. By the time I got to high school, I had wanted a whole bunch of skateboard gear and I figured I was too old to ask money from my parents so I worked at a burger joint. One day, I was really angry about flipping burgers. I came home huffing and puffing, having one of my teenage angst-ridden rampages. Dad saw me and asked me what the matter was. I told him that I was fed up with flipping burgers. He said that we all have to start somewhere, he said that we may not know it now, but the skills we learn even in a burger joint, might come in handy later in life. “Who knows, you might end up having to run a restaurant or even own one when you grow up,” said Dad. He calmed me down and I kept what he said in mind, even though I really didn’t agree with it.
A couple of years later, when I got to college, I worked in a restaurant. During one of the really busy days that we had, we were short on kitchen staff. The patrons were getting restless and the orders were getting delayed. We were sure any minute that a riot would break out. I couldn’t stand the tension any more, so I rolled up my sleeves, got myself a hair net and helped out in the hot kitchen. We caught up with the orders eventually. The owner saw what I did and called me over around closing time. He said that he was very impressed. He raised my salary and made me the assistant manager even though I could only go in part time. That’s when I realized that what my dad said to me all those years before was absolutely true.
I’ve never forgotten what my dad said that day. And whenever I have to do something that requires new skills, no matter how small or insignificant it seems, I have a new perspective that it might really help me later on or even right now and I just don’t know it. Experience is everything and it counts a lot when you take lesson from it. That’s my life’s philosophy.
