Father’s Day in the Philippines is on a Sunday, 16 June 2019. For skeptics, it’s just another commercial ploy to lure the gullible to buy stuff. To those who sincerely believe in setting aside a day to focus on honoring their fathers, buying gifts is not a pre-requisite to celebrate Father’s Day. By simply remembering him with gratitude and without making noise in social media may be enough to honor dad.
Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, father of the Philippine revolution (image source: inquirer.net)
Being called a father is not always about actual biological paternity. It may also mean an honorific title to someone who had contributed time, effort, and skills to a certain field. For example, Hippocrates has always been referred to as the father of medicine. Acharya Charak (300 B. C.) of India is also called the father of medicine for being one of the principal contributors to the ancient art and science of Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in India. Those who are into ancient Chinese history know that Shennong is venerated as the father of Chinese medicine. He is also believed to have introduced the technique of acupuncture. I don’t know if Farmacia Suy Hoo at Oyanguren cares to know.
Let’s see if you could recognize some of our other fathers from other time and places.
Osamu Tezuka, father of the Japanese Manga (comics) and Anime (animation) (image source: apantimes.co.jp)Shigeru Miyamoto, father of modern video gaming (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pikmin, and Wii) (image source: muzu)Gary Gygax, father of role-playing game (American game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson) (image source: wikipedia.org)Cameron Argetsinger, father of American road racing (introduced the first US auto race that was dedicated to road courses in Watkins Glen, New York) (image source: pbslearningmedia.org)James Naismith, father of basketball (image source: kansasmemory.org)Kunimitsu Takahashi (rightmost, image source: inisideevs.com), father of drifting. He introduced an aggressive high speed cornering technique that became widely used for illicit purposes, which eventually became a sport.Edward William Barton-Wright, father of mixed martial arts, Experimented 1898–1902 with Shinden Fudo Ryu jujutsu, Kodokan judo, British boxing, Swiss schwingen, French savate and a defensive la canne (stick fighting) style that had been developed by Pierre Vigny of Switzerland ,which led to the invention of Bartitsu (image source: rgreen.org.uk)
