"You just like your daddy"; Compliment or insult?

You just like your daddy! Is that an insult or a compliment?

There are many who don't celebrate Father's Day because their memories of father are not flattering. To some, father is just the name on a child support check, a blank line on a birth certificate, or a weekend visitor, but not a loving presence.

This thinking is reflected in many popular songs over the years. Lowell Folsum started it all with a song called "Tramp" in which he criticized his father severely but praised him for being a lover. Otis Redding and Carla Thomas later came out with their version of "Tramp" with Redding saying he had no money, bragged much and had little but he too was a lover.

Joe Tex also sampled Lowell Folsum's song with a popular song called, "Papa was too." In it Papa was projected as a man who was poor, wouldn't work and "covered the holes of shoes with the daily news." His redeeming factor? He was a lover.

Most memorable is the hit by the Temptations: "Papa was a rolling stone" a song that depicted papa as a man who moved from woman and very irresponsible and unstable, but he too was a lover.

Those song paint a dreary picture of fathers. They characterized as no counts whose only asset was their ability to make love and babies. Many today have the same image of their fathers.

But along comes Luther Vandross who lifted the spirit of millions who have fond memories of their fathers when he produced, "Dance with my father again." He painted a picture of a loving dad who cared for his daughter and loved his wife till death.

They were beautiful lyrics:

Back when I was a child, before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high and dance with my mother and me and then
Spin me around �til I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure I was loved
If I could get another chance, another walk, another dance with him
I�d play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love
To dance with my father again

The ultimate depiction of a father's love is this:

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

No matter how many bad attributes fathers have; they all have a few positives,too. We are a summary of of everything all that father is or was; both the good and the bad.

It's those positives that endear us and make some yearn to "Dance with my father again."