Nicholas Kristof, who is currently promoting a feminist book he wrote along with his wife, suggests that donating to charity rather than buying dad a gift is the right thing to do for Father’s Day. The charity he has in mind is one that trains giant rats to sniff out land mines in Africa.
Of course clearing land mines is important work, most of which will naturally be done by men, most of whom are probably dads themselves, but one ought to ask whether Kristof would make a similar appeal for Mother’s Day. Can one imagine a columnist telling people NOT to buy presents for Mother’s Day? Say he wrote that instead of giving mom a gift, a gift should be given to a charity that, say, built biogas latrines in Cambodia. Somehow, I think the editors at the NY Times might have a word with Mr. Kristof about that.
All Mr. Kristof is saying in declaring Father’s Day is “a triumph of commercialism” is that Father’s Day isn’t a “real” holiday. Certainly he wouldn’t tell people not to buy roses for their wives/girlfriends on Valentine’s Day, or presents for people on their birthdays.
In a way, I agree with Mr. Kristof. Father’s Day should be about more than a tie or a card. For millions of men out there, I know they’d happily go without a single gift just for a chance to see their children on Father’s Day. For those men away at war, in prison or deprived of their children by callous mothers and a ruthless, uncaring court, no card or small token – not even an enormous, African rat – could make up for the time they’ve missed.
