MY DAD THE HERO 

Written by Ronald C. Fazio, Jr.

My dad and I started off everyday the same way, by riding the train to work together.  After we would get on the train, my dad would take out the only newspaper we had.  All I was ever interested in was the sports section.  If he was in a good mood he would just give it to me, but if he was cranky, forget about it, he would pretend to read it, and make me bust before he gave it to me. 
     
       But on September 11^th when my dad took that train to work by himself because I took the day off to do wedding plans, he became a HERO.  I spoke with many of my dad’s co-workers at Aon Re., and they all say the same thing, that he saved their lives by running around telling people to leave, and HOLDING THE DOOR FOR OTHERS so they could leave.  But you see he was not only their HERO, he was also my HERO! My ROCK, who I always depended on and looked up to.

            Recently I rented an apartment in Westwood, NJ and I needed some blinds for the windows.  So I measured the windows, and bought the blinds and asked my dad to come help me put them up.  When we started to put the blinds up, he had this look on his face, and I asked him what was wrong, and he just laughed and said, “You measured all the windows wrong.”  So he re-measured them for me, and sent me back to the store.  When I got to the store, I could not find the right sizes or the correct colors.   So I sat there for a good half hour trying to figure out what to do, when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye my dad came walking down the isle and with his hand on my shoulder said,” Son, you look like you need some help.”  That is just one example of many of how my dad was there for me when ever I needed him.  I later learned the reason my dad was in the store, was because he bought me some tools, so I would have a gift to open at my fiancé’s shower.  You see my dad was always thinking of ways to make other people happy.  The most important thing I learned from my dad, and not from teaching, but from just watching him, was how to love and help others with out receiving anything in return.  He always put other people’s feelings before his own.  My dad always saw the beauty in everyone and he had a sweetness about himself that everyone adored.  That is what made him the great dad that he was.

That leads us up to my dad’s hobbies, of which there are really only two.  The first one was his family, which was also his passion.  He loved to spend every second possible with us, and if he was not with us he was talking about us to anyone who would listen.  The other hobby of course, was his food.  We now need to find someone to cook our Sunday sauce.  I can only hope to be as good a family man as my dad.

            Ironically enough, my dad use to wonder if he knew how to be a good dad because his father passed away when he was only seven years old.  But he was the best dad and friend you could ever ask for.  I would hear about tragic losses every day, but I never thought in a million years, I would be the one making the choice of how to deal with the sudden tragic loss of my dad.  I believe you can’t always control what happens in life, but you always have a choice on how you want to react.  I look at how my dad reacted to loosing his father and it gives me strength to know I can still have a beautiful life.  My first step was deciding to go through with our wedding on October 14^th, 2001.  Next was to help others through our organization Hold The Door For Others.   

            Over the past few months everyone kept asking me what can we do.  What I would like to ask is for everyone to make a silent promise to oneself.  Please take whatever sweetness my father shared with you, and all the opportunities my dad opened for you, and promise to keep passing it on to everyone that you meet, and continue to hold the door of opportunity open for others.   Even though he is not physically here, he is here in spirit and will always be alive in our hearts.    

            I just thank God that we all had the opportunity to experience the sweetness of a great man, and HERO, my DAD.