Neckties and cologne may be the gifts of the day today as our nation pauses to celebrate Fathers Day, but the real celebration is not about gifts or traditions, but lessons passed along by fathers — good and bad.

Our area is filled with some truly salt-of-the-earth, amazing fathers who have helped raise their children into amazingly responsible adults as well.

Those men are the role models for our community.

They provide wonderful examples for others to follow.

They teach respect of others. They teach honesty and integrity and they lead their families by example.

These are the fathers held in highest esteem today.

On the other end of the spectrum, our community also sees the polar opposite as well, fathers who are absent in their children’s lives or worst still there, but abusive or neglectful.

We often think about Father’s Day in a positive light, but for far too many children, the lesson’s learned from their fathers are learned in reverse — don’t be like dad.

That’s a sad reality.

It’s easy for us to look the other way and shake our heads at such situations, but that simple ignores and exacerbates the problem.

What we must do is become engaged with the people affected and find a way to help them.

Fathers can come in all shapes and forms, some biological and some completely unrelated.

We pray each of you has a happy Father’s Day and urge you to be vigilant to help anyone who is less fortunate.