As a kid I used to watch cartoons of superheroes such as Superman, He-Man, and G.I. Joe, always excited to see how they overcame the odds to beat the villains. The next day at school while most kids would pretend to be their favorite superheroes, the person I wanted to imitate didn't wear a cape or a mask, and wasn't able to lift up a building with one hand. No, the person I most wanted to be like had an ability that couldn't be measured in physical attributes, but in wisdom, guidance and love. It is the man here in the photo, my father, John Henry Reid III.
Don't get me wrong, I was your typical 80's action hero fan, but there was something just a little more special whenever it was my father and I watching them together. He had a way of explaining it that made the light bulb in my mind go off just a little bit brighter. I would marvel as he would tell stories of his life growing up as a one of the first 10 students to integrate Bibb County Schools in Macon, Georgia. Whether it was about his coming-of-life tale as a Freedom Fighter to his more radical days, his knowledge and experience taught me so much growing up that it was a fascination for me just to hear what he had to say.
Both he and my mom had such an awesome responsibility to deal with four boys growing up in the South, but yet I never heard him complain about it. We grew up when hip-hop was entering its golden age, and despite the clash in cultures and ideologies, there was a mutual understanding...a lot of that you can thank Will Smith's "Parents Just Don't Understand" video. One memory I had was I was 9 and went to see "Transformers: The Movie" and the Optimus Prime death scene came up. Despite the tears that were shed, he was always there to give us encouragement, no matter what. That is what he would do, be there to give that pat on the back when we needed it. Another time was when I was called a racial epithet by another kid at the age of 7. I was stunned at first by the comment and didn't know how to respond, but then he said to me as I got home, "more people will despise you for your faith than they will your color." He always knows just what to say to put things in greater perspective. Disciplined yet fair, that's my dad in a nutshell.
Being a former athlete himself, he always inspires me push for my best, on and off the field. What he taught me most of all, was patience and endurance, how to always believe in the best, and that in the end, things will work out. I remember the celebrations we had when the Atlanta Braves won their first title in 1995, to his tears being shed when America elected its first black President in 2008. He is a man of passion and love for God and family, but even to this day when we talk about sports, there is always the wisdom he displays that made me believe that even now, things will get better.
Some marvel to be like Mike, others to be like Jay-Z, but for me, there's only one man I wish I could be half of what he is, and that's my role model, my father. Happy Father's Day dad, I love you.
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