A Day for Fathers

This week I had the great fortune to attend a performance of "Les Miserables" for the first time. The French novelist, Victor Hugo, was not one whose works were studied at the high school or university that I attended, but I was vaguely familiar with the plot of his most famous book.

Set in France in the 1830's, it tells the tragic tale of Jean Valjean, whose career as a petty thief was turned around by the kindness of another man, whom he repaid in turn by stealing silverware. Many years later, through fortune and hard work, Valjean has reinvented himself as an honest man, the respected mayor of a town and prosperous owner of a factory.

This is the period in French history when the poor (and they were the majority) lived from hand to mouth while the rich feasted and caroused to excess. The workers at Valjean's factory are able to support their families solely through the generosity of their employer, and it is their jobs that keep them from the poorhouse or worse. One of the workers, a young woman with an illegitimate daughter whose existence she's kept a secret, has her past revealed and so loses the only thing standing between her and an uncertain future--her position at the factory.
In order to keep her daughter fed and clothed, she is forced to turn to prostitution and eventually dies of illness and malnourishment. Before that tragic ending, though, Valjean is introduced into her life through a chance encounter. He takes pity on her and promises to take care of her daughter. He says he will the raise the girl, Cosette, as his own, and he spends the rest of his life keeping that promise.

There is much more to the story, but the part that resonated with me the most was Valjean's role as a father. Even though he never married, and had no other children, he took on a poor illegitimate child as his own. In true unselfishness, he even promised her future husband that he would stay out of her life to spare her the shame of a father with a criminal past.

What does that say to me? True fatherhood is not necessarily one of blood ties, and true fatherhood involves sacrifice. Even when Valjean's life was in danger, he did the very best he could for Cosette, risking everything that he had accomplished in order to keep her safe and happy. He is fictional, of course, the creation of a novelist, but there are many men like him.

Today let us salute true fathers, like Valjean, whether or not they are related to one by blood, for their unselfish love, their deep commitment to their families, and their dedication.

Here's to fathers!