The Blessings of My Father

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” –Frederick Douglass

A very warm and joyous Happy Father's Day to all of the current and soon to be fathers today. This year I feel extremely grateful and blessed to have my 86 year old father in my corner to seek wise counsel, share jokes, discuss world events, and reminisce about all of the things that have brought us joy throughout the years.

This weekend we were going through old family picture albums and I came across a series of photos of my Dad at various points in his life. It reminded me that as children he often shared with us that raising my siblings and I was the most important role in the world, and that someday we would also be blessed with the responsibility of raising our own children. In our family, there is a consistent theme which states that our role is not only to raise our children well, give back to society and your community, but more importantly ensure that we support our children to reach further in life than the generations which came before us.

As I grew older I began to understand what he actually meant. My parents invested everything they had in us continuously - physically, spiritually, emotionally, academically, financially and much more. In our early years growing up in New York, we watched as my parents opened their home to friends and family who immigrated to the US from Haiti to provide them with a good transition period as they secured work, housing, schooling for their own respective families. The level of what I now recognize as empathy and caring for others which my parents displayed to hundreds of people, has remained well ingrained in my DNA today.

Both of my parents worked very hard to provide for our family and had a very strong work ethic.?One of the many Haitian proverbs which we grew up with in our house was: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat”.?For example, my father worked in a variety of industries from the restaurant, automotive, and insurance until he landed a role at a leading artist and brush manufacturer based in Manhattan, New York. He rose through the ranks and became General Manager of the offshore manufacturing facility which enabled us to move to Haiti in the early 1980s - 1990s.

My bounce back game is extremely strong as a direct result of watching my parents fall forward in a variety of situations, never giving up and always pushing us to be better in any circumstance.

To have my father as my executive sounding board, my coach, my mentor, teacher and best friend throughout these years has been a blessing to me and my family. His guidance as I learned to navigate effectively in various leadership roles in the technology industry, deal with obstacles or setbacks, and most importantly raising my family has been immeasurable. My bounce back game is extremely strong as a direct result of watching my parents fall forward in a variety of situations, never giving up and always pushing us to be better in any circumstance.

Life can be unpredictable, people may disappoint you, and you may fall down many times on your journey to where you want to be in life. The true blessing is being able to make the moments that you are with your loved ones, family and friends count each and every day.

Happy Father's Day! Love you Dad!