by Anjan Roy

Created on: June 20, 2009   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

I don't think we should celebrate father's day or mother's day separately to show our love. A parent's love cannot just be returned by celebrating a day in a year. It is a lifelong commitment.

I am originally from India. We are a country of very strong family values. We are also a country where parents are often treated as Gods. When I came to US, about 10 years ago, I first heard about Father's Day and Mother's Day. Apparently these days are the days where we thank our Father and Mother respectively for whatever they have done for us.

This reminded me of a story that I had heard a long time back. In India, we celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. That day, all the butcher houses are closed and all the liquor shops are also closed. We do this to demonstrate our faith on the values that Gandhi taught us - non violence and staying away from Alcohol. Imagine what happens the day before - there are big queues in front of the butcher shops and liquor shops because people want to stock as much as possible. So - by not purchaing meat or alcohol just one day in a year - we are trying to prove that we do this all over the year. What an idea. Celebration of Father's day and Mother's day remind me of something similar. By celebrating mother's day and father's day one day in a year - we are trying to prove that we love our parents.

I think parenthood is the most thankless job in the world. The parents never get back anything from their children. When we are young, and lonely and get scared at night - our mother is always there with us. We know we have someone to go to if we feel lonely and need company. When we are learning to walk, we need some hand to hold to, and we know that our father will always be there. He will always be there to hold our hand and teach us walking.

When our parents get old, and they need company - what do we do with them? We send them to old age homes. When they cannot walk and need a hand, we hand them over a stick or a wheelchair. We are worried about our privacy so much that we don't want them to stay with us.

I think in our society, we celebrate father's day and mother's day just to make ourselves feel better and say to ourselves - I am done for this year !

For those of us, who have younger kids, we need to take a look at our parents and their loneliness because a few years from now, we will also be there - just to accept a gift on a father's day or a mother's day.

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