Boston Celtics alum Paul Pierce is all for celebrating Mother’s Day, but he isn’t too keen on having Father’s Day overlooked. Pierce, a father to three kids himself, feels that men are conditioned not to really want that kind of public display of warmth from their children. But in reality, the Celtics’ small forward would just like something intimate, like a handwritten letter.
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Pierce joined Azar Farideh on the Truth After Dark podcast, where the pair discussed a multitude of social issues. As far as Pierce was concerned, the lack of celebration of fatherhood and all that men do for their children held precedence.
“Father’s Day ain’t really looked at. If you go on Google and see where Father’s Day is ranked among like just things we celebrate, it’s like 20th on the list, something like that. And Mother’s Day is ranked second behind Christmas,” he argued. While he does concede that men generally don’t care for the trivialities, it would feel nice to be recognized.
“We accept it for what it is. And we love the fact that we get acknowledged for that really quick second. And after that, it’s just like, it ain’t really a big deal like Mother’s Day and Christmas. You know what I am saying?” he told Azar.
“We have been so conditioned not to look for anything. So anything is a plus … As men, we are expected to take the bullets. We are expected to take the heat. We are expected to be just tough, and we really are just a second thought. We expect it to be just looked over. I didn’t even know Father’s Day was coming up,” the 47-year-old confessed.
Pierce also noted that on Mother’s Day, women are taken to dinner and offered flowers, and their children plan big things for them. “Because I have done that on Mother’s Day,“ he asserted.
When Azar revealed that her dad refused to take her up on an offer for lunch and instead chose to barbeque, Pierce claimed that she needed to do more.
“Nothing is ever planned for the man. The man is still expected to do the same things that he’s always doing, even on his day.” According to him, it is easy to buy something for someone. But the real effort comes from putting in the work to plan something personal.
“And for you to say, I will take you to lunch … What about making him breakfast? That’s something different. That means something more. Make him dinner. That means something different because it’s easy. Like us as men, when you love a female, this is what you know love is about, when you really put thought into something. It’s easy for me to buy you something, right?”
Elaborating further on his point, Pierce claimed that once you know what someone you love likes, you should take the time to plan and turn it into something grander, to make a day out of it, so to speak.
“For instance, I know she likes to be touched on her neck and rubbed and massaged and she likes these scents. She likes candles. When you put time into something, it means more. When you really put the time in, you plan something … And you’re like, ‘Oh, alright! I got this treasure hunt. I wrote this card. I wrote a letter.'”
Pierce feels these old school values should not be thrown out the window. It shouldn’t look like you have to buy love. Well, he isn’t half wrong there!
