My Dad: A Renessiance Man

I remember what it was I was going to post about: my Dad. A thrity min nap, a shower, and a meal will do amazing things for a tired body and soul!

While I was in the shower I was thinking about Star Wars (no big suprise there since I just picked up the New Jedi Order series again) and it reminded me of when I was explaining what I had been reading in the books and how they were challenging my thinking to my father, which made me remember that on the same day I was talking to him about the book Frankenstein and the life of its author. That got us into a discusion of the histroy of the era and the philosophical ideals that shaped it and still influence our culture to day. So in the middle of talking about the literary devices used in Frankinstein and the influences on Shelly as she wrote it, (her own life experiences, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and Milton's Paradise Lost) my dad was struck by the Irony of the situation.

There we were having this discussion, while on a construction site fighting with a stuborn piece of vacuum pipe, and he just stopped what he was doing and said, "Y'know, not to brag, but I don't think very many other construction workers talk about philosophy and literary classics while on the job, do you?"

Thinking back on some of the many crazy, pointless, and down right disgusting conversations I've heard over the years I simply answered, "No, not so much."

I am not in any way trying to demean construction workers at all, most are hard working honest men, and there are many very inteligent poeple who work construction. But I have to say that there is something unusual about us, or more importantly about my father because I learned the habit from him.

My dad is a giant sponge, always seeking new ways to learn new things.  Like many people of his generation my father never went to college but went straight to work after high school and started raising a family but he has (in my oppinion) more than made up for never attending a formal school by his constant desire to learn. Always seeking out good books or articles to read, and taking every opportunity to watch TV shows such as Nova, Natue, and history documentaries, my dad is a true renessiance man who has vast stores of knowledge about science (he built his own laser in high school), forestry and wildlife management, and computers, car mechanics, and (of course after working construction his whole life) home building.  He can descuss religion, theology, and philosophy as well as almost any of my proffessors here at Bryan and knows the Bible better than some pastors I've met.

Why? Because of his love of learning.  Because of his desire to know his Creator better by learning about every aspect of Creation. With a humble heart he will gladly let his children teach him about the things they have learned in college, soak it all up, roll it over in his mind, compare it to scripture, and find useful applications to his daily walk with God.

Teaching by example he has inspired all his children with that same spirit of life long learning ensuring that we never become stagnant but always continue to grow both mentally and spiritual.

That is the greatest gift he has ever given me, and that is why he is my hero.