Every Fathers Day I make a pitch for everyone reading to remember their dads with love. Fathers are indispensable to their children and today is the one day out of the year we’re urged to honor them. So much of the rest of the time seems to be spent doing the opposite.
But this year I think I’ll let Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade do the talking for me. This year saw the culmination of his successful fight to gain custody of his two sons and here’s his Fathers Day article that touches on that fight, and what his kids and his own dad mean to him (Newsweek, 6/5/11).
And while you’re reading his piece remember two things. First, recall all the things his ex-wife did to make contact with his boys hard or impossible. Second, remember what Dwyane said in court about her:
“I want both parents to be in their kids” lives … S.L.(his wife) needs to get healthy.. .to get help dealing with whatever issues she”s dealing with .. . if she does that, she gets healthy, I want her to spend as much time with the kids as she wants to spend.’
D.T. continued, “I”m not trying to take my kids from her. I want to foster a relationship between both parents, where we have equal rights, hopefully one day we can make decisions together, and our kids can see us together as a parent team to know that we have their best interests at hand.’
When you think about it, that’s a pretty good statement of the goals of the family court reform movement in a nutshell.
To me, Dwyane Wade looks like he’s got a big heart. That largeness of spirit will be there long after he laces up his NBA sneakers for the last time. Whatever his ex-wife may do, I know his sons will be better boys and better men because of it.
Happy Fathers Day!