Father's Day 2023

It's Father's Day today. Woo hoo.

What is it to be a father ? Before we took on this role did we correspond with our unborn children about their wishes and desires ? Did we really think this through very well ? Did the joy in the moment of expecting a child deny us the logic of contemplating what that child might reasonably expect of us once they were born ? Did we put our scenario planning hats on and spin out the societal, economical, environmental, technological and geo-political possibilities that might shape the world our children lived (and died in) ?

Of course not.

As human beings, as animals, we are driven by physical, emotional and psychological mechanisms that root themselves more often than not in the here and now and the assumption of stability and control. Ceteris Paribus, is a seemingly implicit assumption to our daily routines, or at least that any changes to our immediate context will be manageable to such a degree that the show of life will surely go on and we will adjust to unforeseen factors and carry on living regardless. A few things might go awry, but we will still carry on. We will be okay. Our children will be okay as well.

Except now they won't.

Being a Father now means sitting down with our children and saying that things will not be the same for you as they were for me. And the thing that is changing most is our planet and our environment. I am sorry I did not see this coming. I did not envisage the world I was bringing you into would be like this. Almighty Father, I am not. I am a humble and ignorant servant and victim of factors beyond my control. I am sorry that the planet is becoming uninhabitable and with that might come the collapse of our civil society and institutions as resources dwindle.

Except, perhaps we can do something. All of us.

Fathering our planet back to health is like fathering your own child. It demands time, investment and sacrifice just like raising a kid. But what if over the next year we all did that, began to do that, all Father's, at scale? What small things can we change, what new things can we do, what actions can we take, what organisations can we support, what can we stop doing that is harmful, what industries that are destroying our planet and our ecosystems should we take action against, what local and global initiatives can we get involved in that we as individuals and collectively can impact to create the change our children need to see ? And what companies should we invest in and which should we not invest in so that the good guys win ? What if we dedicated one hour a day on average to these acts of compassion and love for our children. That is seven hours a week, 364 hours over a year to becoming an activist Father.

If this planet dies, our children will die with it. They do not deserve that. They did not ask to be born, but once here our responsibility of care to them now demands a broader set of actions than ever before. Maybe a year from today, on Father's Day 2023, all Dad's can sit with their children or Zoom them and say here is what I have done over the past year to show my love for you -

"I joined Green Peace, I conserved water, I drove less, I invested in Green Tech, I supported Ark, I did not buy a Christmas Tree instead I took that money and I planted 100 saplings, I lobbied the government to invest more in wind and solar, I joined with local Dads to create new green spaces in our town, I planted vegetables, I stopped buying any beverages in plastic bottles...... "

It is amazing what human beings can do. The Empire State Building was built in 18 months in the teeth of the Great Depression, Einstein wrote most of his most seminal papers in a short 20 month burst of activity... Churchill sent the English Language into battle against the greatest tyranny in human history. What if we did the same, but instead of 'fighting them on the streets and on the beaches' we fought for a cleaner world and a greener economy and a planet our children can live on beyond us? What if we all became foot soldiers in this battle and inch-by-inch, minute-by-minute, one action at a time we could change what seems unchangeable.

If we Dad's put our minds to it we can make a difference, we can make this world better, greener, fairer, more compassionate and kinder and more livable for our children. That is what we as Father's need to and must do. Now.

So many children's hearts are breaking as they look at the world and our planet and as a Father, I am reminded of the words of Percy Bysshe Shelley-

"Whence are we, and why are we? Of what scene The actors or spectators?"