Being a Father
Luke Wang was born on July 4th, 2007 at 1:44pm, a warm, cheery summer day. Despite the fact that it was Independence Day, it was quite a non-descript summer day, full of sun and a slight breeze. Of course, having been confined to the labor & delivery department of Kaiser, neither mom nor I were able to take advantage of that fact. I was anxious, nervous, and all-in-all quite queasy, and the dimly-lit room didn’t help. While mom was going through contractions, I felt myself fighting through my own nervousness. The birth itself went smoothly, Lulu having only been in real labor for no longer than 11 hours or so, and the delivery taking no longer than 30 minutes. Luke came out kicking and screaming, seemingly ready to take on the world and all its caveats.
I think it’s impossible to describe what it is like to suddenly come to full realization of becoming a father. Purposely, I’ve let all the emotions simmer down before making an entry here, as I knew only words of retrospect could do justice to the jumble of feelings that were suddenly thrust upon me. On that note, I’ve realized that there had been one overriding contemplation that I’ve had over the last week or so.
To bring life into this world is both a joy and an overwhelming responsibility, but it was also the onset of an epiphany. A baby is born into this world with no baggage, no past, no enemies, and no debt. When you think of all the new things to learn and experience for a newborn, it dulls the trivial things in our life we take as important - our everyday grind, our everyday matters, our everyday worries. It puts into perspective the everyday things in our life that we’ve become consumed in wrongfully, and frees us from the chains of mediocrity we’ve come to bind ourselves. At once, it is a new beginning for both the baby and the father.
What can we provide for our newborns? Of course, I mean more than just food, clothes, and shelter - I mean our knowledge, our sense of compassion, our sense of morality. Spare them our burdens, our hardships, and our immaturity. Spare them our love of bickering, our sense of greed, and our penchant for prejudice. Give them love, hope, and peace. Give them a better world in which to live, a better environment in which to grow. Give them truth. Give them honesty.
The one thing I can take away from this, as I step back and reflect on this little miracle of my own is that this is an opportunity for me to become a better person, and then to take that energy and posit it in a way that has lasting effects in this world. My contribution to humankind will be my willingness to give the next generation a better future, as should be the contribution of every father.
In the end, our society is built on the strength of our ability to not just create, but to share creation. That includes raising, and loving, our children.