This is what my father told me – Captain Smart eulogises dad ahead of Father’s Day
Captain Smart has revealed what his father told him the first day he commenced work at Radio Peace in the year 2001.
He said after closing from work that fateful day, his father, Samuel Evans Egyir Smart, sat him down and said “what can save you for the radio job you’re doing is to say the truth, no matter what. Even if they will cut your neck, say the truth and that is what will make you go far.”
Captain Smart says this advice has resonated to him over the two decades he has been in radio, guiding him to always stick to the facts and truth in his career irrespective of the stakes involved.
Ahead of the Father’s Day celebration on Sunday, Mr. Smart used the Friday, June 18, 2021 edition of the Smart Show on Smart TV to elucidate the public on some of the expectations of a father.
A father, he noted is a caretaker and must provide that responsibility of taking care of what has been bequeathed to render proper account in future.
“Agya, which is Father in the Akan language means ‘yɛde adeɛ agya wo’ – being entrusted with something — and so that thing must be well taken care of”
“Some have given birth and deserted their wards. If you’re a father, you’re a caretaker. Bible says kids are Gods property and must be well taken care of. When you take good care of your kids, you get blessed. Father! Where are your children?,” he asked.
Aside from guiding him to be truthful always, Mr. Smart said his father inculcated the habit of reading in him which has aided him in his career.
He explained that “my father would buy Graphic whenever he is returning from work –he was a dispenser at the hospital – and hold a cane beside me and ask me to read whilst eating and each mistake means part of my meat would be taken. He also bought me Shakespeare’s Macbeth, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and a host of other books to read. And I would have to reproduce each chapter after reading. When I turned 18, he parked all the novels I’ve read before me and one after the other, he asked if I remember each of the stories and that is what made me fall in love with reading till today. Father, thank you!,” he eulogised.
He noted some fathers can boast of their wards at the dismay of others because they cannot get close to them due to the poor relationship between them.
“Some fathers can point to their children but cannot enter their houses. Sometimes when some fathers mention their children, they’re asked if they’re sure” adding that fathers have huge responsibility in nurturing their children.
“When you impregnate someone and give birth, take care of them. Some fathers have money but they won’t take care of their wards and blame it on their mother’s character. If you’re a father, you have a huge responsibility. Don’t say contemporary kids are stubborn because all kids have been stubborn since so it depends on how you train them,” he advised.
Regarding trust issues, Mr. Smart revealed his father counselled him by demonstrating how dangerous it could be to wholly put your trust in people.
“I really love tea (milo) so my father called me one day and prepared two separate teas –a cold water and hot water –and asked me to open my mouth. He poured the hot tea in my mouth and I got my mouth burnt and poured everything out. When I asked why my father did that, he told me to ‘trust anybody under the sun but don’t trust anybody with your taste’. Taste here is not just the food you eat but the car you want is your taste, the dress you wear, your house, so if you spend your taste on women, you can’t use your money to do anything meaningful,” he stated.
Wishing all fathers in advance, he noted “a father also assumes the role of a mother – when the wife travels – and leaves the children with him and therefore, should be able to protect, teach and counsel his children, and if he’s not able to do that, he’s not a good father.”
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