Bao Huynh

MY WIFE’S DADDY

I have had countless conversations with my father in law (a deacon of Catholic Church) over the years on a broad spectrum of topics ranging from sports and finance all the way to spirituality. Regardless of the conversation topic matter, I think it is hard pressed for any person to hold a conversation with my father and not realize the vast nature of his intelligence, life experience, and success.

In 1975 my father immigrated over to the United States from his home country of Vietnam. Similar to most immigrants during this time, my father’s story of immigration to the United States could very well rival blockbuster stories imagined by the best Hollywood writers.  What could not be imagined however would be the countless ways he overcame the many obstacles in his life to gain his successes and achievements. It is easy to meet a man of my father’s stature and be drawn to all of his personal and professional accomplishments. However, oddly enough it is not his life accomplishments that I along with many others have come to respect but more so his humility.

Out of all of the conversations and broad ranges of topics I have discussed with my father in the past several years, there is only one conversation that comes to mind when I am asked to sum up his character. During this one particular conversation the topic of discussion happened to be about his family. Nothing unusual about this at all since family happens to be a common point of discussion, but what was different with this particular conversation was his surprisingly humble revelation on the subject matter.

One would expect that a person of much success, such as my father, would be filled with an overwhelming sense of pride. Pride is often defined as placing excessive emphasis on the importance of oneself. It is this emphasis that causes a person to credit him/herself for their many accomplishments in life. This particular state of mind and being is what we as a society have come to expect from the successful people around us. This is also the very reason why his following statement during our conversation caught me by surprise.

My father mentioned to me during our conversation that he prays daily  for his family members.  It is during this prayer that he acknowledges his limitation as a man. During his prayer he promises God that he will dedicate the remainder of his life to serving God’s will and His people. He simply asks God in return to care for and nurture his loved ones in return. With that simple prayer of petition, my father acknowledges that God is the only one who can make all things possible. Even though my father has achieved much success and achievements in his life he acknowledges that it was never his own doing. It’s his way of acknowledging that it is God who has always provided the opportunity for success.

I have often self-reflected on the conversation above and believe that this conversation will be a central belief for the remainder of my life. Through this conversation with my father I have come to learn that it is only when we acknowledge our limitations as man can we begin to acknowledge how awesome our God truly is. I don’t believe there will ever be a life lesson more important then this and I thank my father for providing this to me early in my life.