A tribute to my Father

It's been almost a year since my Father died and I would like to pay Him a tribute.

There are no perfect people and my Father was not perfect either, but He set a very good example to me in most cases. Interestingly He sometimes tried to convince me that I should behave “this and that”, even though He himself behaved differently. But He did it in good faith – He tried to make me more “successful” than Him. And He failed – I am as “hopeless” as He was, but I think He was quite successful in His own way. There were many important rules that He (together with my Mother) taught me, just by setting an example.

He was honest. He never tried to gain anything at someone else's expense.

He was lawful. He believed that official rules should be respected.

He was truthful. He was not afraid to face the consequences of His own actions and opinions.

He was sincere. He always tried to make everything clear, so there would be no misunderstandings.

He was assertive. He defended his own rights and He didn't take blame for other people's faults.

He was proud. He was not impressed by strangers, even if they held an important position.

He was peaceful and non-aggressive. He didn't like violence or imperialism of any kind.

He was strong-minded. He didn't change his opinions easily and He believed in His own conclusions.

He valued balanced opinions. He often explained to me what understatements or simplifications were made in a statement we had just heard on TV.

He was objective. He was not afraid to admit that our team won a game just because the referee made more mistakes in our favour.

He was compassionate. He fully realised and felt the tragedy of other people and He never laughed at other people's accidents or other misfortunes.

He was careful about other people feelings. He taught me that we shouldn't brag about our achievements or emphasize our material possessions.

He was financially responsible. He didn't fall into any debts just because some other people had more money than Him.

He was against vegetarianism. He was convinced that it is simply not healthy and that humans are more much more carnivores than herbivores.

He was not a mindless devout in any sense. He had his own opinions and beliefs, but He was not displeased by different opinions or different beliefs of other people, as long as they were not harmful or evidently untrue.

He was against taming of wild animals. One day when I was very young He drove me and my Mother to a circus, but He didn't go in with us to see the show and He simply waited for us in the car.

He was a sportsman when He was young. He encouraged me to try many different sport activities and He controlled how my body was developing, mostly by checking if I didn't have scoliosis or hunchback.

He was forgiving. He was surprisingly calm when I did something stupid as a child and He cared only if I was hurt or not.

He didn't use physical punishment. He tried to persuade me with words and bonuses or, as a last resort, with non-physical punishments.

He was not a despot. He didn't plan my life for me.

He was foresightedly wise. He discouraged me from engaging too much in one set of activities or deciding too early on my future goals.

He was imaginatively careful. He taught me to foresee what dangerous things can happen even in seemingly safe conditions.

He was critical of extreme sports. He thought that it is really stupid to voluntarily risk your health or even your life just for some excitement.

He was interested in science. He encouraged me to read books and magazines about how our world is functioning.

He was always reconciled to his life. He never anguished over his misfortunes or despaired over his life, even after He was diagnosed with blood cancer.

I feel very lucky that I had such a great Father.

(Thursday, 22 October 2015)