A Memory of My Dad

[wlotus]

Originally posted to fortysomething...

When I was in ninth grade, I cashed in a $50 savings bond to do Christmas shopping and was dismayed to receive just over $25 for it. (I'd only had it a year and didn't understand how savings bonds worked.) When I told my dad and told him the name of the banker who had "cheated" me out of my $50, he took the money and said he'd take care of it. The next day he handed me $50. I imagined him confronting the banker for "cheating" his daughter. He was my hero.

Years later, when I understood how savings bonds worked, I realized he had simply given me $50 of his own money to make up for sending me to the bank unaware the savings bond was only worth just over $25. Again, he was my hero.

Years after that, someone who knew about the incident (but didn't know I'd long figured out what Dad had done) scoffed, "You thought your father was a hero, but he just gave you his own money to make up for it. He didn't do anything big." Their statement made me feel sorry for them. That person must have been horribly unhappy and bitter in their own heart to try to destroy a daughter's admiration for her own father.

Comments

[lilrongal.livejournal.com]

So glad you pitied the naysayer instead of believing the bullcrap. :)

[littleblueworld.livejournal.com]

Not only were they bitter enough to try to destroy the admiration you have for your father, but they missed the greater point. He gave you the money to protect you from feeling like you made a mistake you couldn't have known you were making. He knew you might have felt shame, or silly. That makes him a hero.

Also, I really like this story.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

Gee. There's too many scoffers in this world. Gadflies don't do anything but bring everyone down.

[audrabaudra.livejournal.com]

What littleblueworld said.

To do a good deed, as your father did, and to do so quietly, without needing the recipient to realize what you've done, is a mark of character. Now we know where you come by your character, too, Wanda :-)

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Y'all are kind. :-) Thank you.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Y'all are kind. Thank you. :-)

[greenminions.livejournal.com]

That is the best story ever. Thanks for sharing it.

Geez, I guess they think heros only do acts that no one else is capable of. Many heros do the simple things that others are capable of but don't think to do or make an effort to do.

[dynamicgirl.livejournal.com]

I like this story!

[deborahloi.livejournal.com]

That's a great story. You're a good one, too. I'd have bitten back viciously. Nobody messes with St.Dad!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

LOL! My Dad is no saint (neither am I), but I believe in giving credit where credit is due!

I didn't bite back viciously, because besides caring deeply about the person who made that statement, they were in a position to make my life a living hell, had I done so. My silence was equal parts pity and self-preservation.