10 Lessons I Learned from my Dad
I grew up in the 90s, when the family sitcom was having its heyday. Full House, Family Matters, Boy Meets World – what they all had in common is that underlying the characters’ zany antics was some kind of moral lesson, the sometimes slapstick humor belying their true allegorical nature. No matter how silly the episode, no matter how many times Steve Urkel hiked up his suspendered pants and delivered a nasally “did I do that?” or Stephanie deadpanned her signature “how rude!”, inevitably the episode would end with a tender moment and a lesson learned. These moral messages were typically delivered by the father figures, by the Carl Winslows and Danny Tanners and Tim “The Tool Man” Taylors and the Mr. Feeneys. As the episode drew to a close, the canned laughter would be momentarily suspended, the music taking on a decidedly more serious tenor as the sage male character imparted his words of wisdom on his young charges. In many respects, my own dad, James (Jim), was something of a 90s sit
