REAL MEN
Posted on 08/04/2006 6:44:42 PM PDT by too short
After almost every column or blogpost I've written about the various idiosyncracies of women, some woman writes to complain that I never criticize men. Of course, there's not exactly a shortage of male-bashing in the mainstream media today, to say nothing of chick rags like Cosmopolitan, Ms., Self and other variants on the Me, Myself and I theme so popular with women.
And while there is something about the modern American man that is absolutely worthy of criticism, I don't think it's exactly what these feminists had in mind. For you see, the main problem with men today is that they are not men, but frightened little boys – afraid of their bosses, their wives, their girlfriends and their government. They are afraid of their employees, their children and their children's teachers.
They are not men because the hallmark of a real man is one who is not ruled by fear. Consider the real men of history, the immortals whose names we still honor today. Leonidas and his Three Hundred did not run before the Persian army at Thermopylae even though they knew they would fall before the host of Xerxes. Winston Churchill, a military and political failure, did not quail before the might of Nazi Germany, but inspired the nation of Britain to stand with him. And not even years in the Soviet gulags could silence the brave voice of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose iron will enabled him to outlast the very government that imprisoned him.
Can you imagine one of these men meekly submitting to the harsh words of a boss? Can you imagine Cicero cowering before the sharp tongue of a nagging wife, who did not cower before an emperor? Or the Apostle Paul remaining silent for fear someone might take offense to his words?
What men lack today is a defining point separating boyhood from manhood. The mere accumulation of years is not enough, for as the saying goes, a woman is, but a man must become. It is interesting to see the difference between one's friends who enter the Marine Corps and those who enter college – four years later, there is seldom a question that the Marine is indeed a man, but far more often than not, the college graduate is simply a post-adolescent version of what he was before.
For the knowledge of manhood is the assurance that one has faced the test and passed. This is not a test of what one knows, but the test of character that only comes from facing your fears. As society has become safer, and in many ways better thanks to technology, it has also eliminated many of the tests that boys of previous generations were forced to face in becoming men.
In my boyhood, I envied my uncle and my grandfather. They were men. The much-decorated Marine veterans of five wars between them, they both survived everything the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Iraqis could throw at them and no longer feared anything but God. When at 71, my grandfather broke his hand on the jaw of a carjacker who foolishly thought a .38 revolver and a six-inch height advantage should suffice to cow an old man, I asked him if he hadn't been afraid.
He shrugged and said that he figured if Guadacanal and Tarawa didn't kill him, no young buck with a popgun stood a chance.
But too many young men today lack such role models. And yet, they seek to find their manhood as if by instinct, all too often making do with inadequate substitutes such as fraternities and gangs. At the time, I did not know I was looking to test myself when my best friend and I joined our martial-arts dojo after being informed by the Marine recruiter that the Gulf War would be over before we finished basic training and our assistance, while appreciated, was surplus to requirements. In retrospect, however, that's precisely what we were doing.
It isn't until he faces the test that a boy begins to understand that it isn't the absence of fear that's the issue, it's how you accept that fear and face it. It is the boy who gets knocked down ... it is the man who rises again in the full knowledge of what's coming next.
Women are not to blame for the demasculization of the American man. It is men who have allowed this to happen, it is the fathers who shirk their responsibility to their sons and the young men who choose the soft and easy way of leisure over the less comfortable path of discipline who are to blame.
So, young man, if you harbor any doubts in your head about your manhood, let me assure you they are correct. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
"Women are not to blame for the demasculization of the American man. It is men who have allowed this to happen, it is the fathers who shirk their responsibility to their sons and the young men who choose the soft and easy way of leisure over the less comfortable path of discipline who are to blame."
Blaming women falls into the exact same category as using women and children as human shields...
Don't rue your reticence - it was probably as God lead you. I've run across a lot of celebs here in Nashville and learned early that they appreciate being given their "space" when you sense that and would much rather talk to a fellow person than a "fan" anytime.
So the "Duke" shrank a bit during his bout with the Big C - Stallone asked me for directions on 16th Avenue once and I had to crouch a bit to see eye to eye...and I'm only a tad over 5'9". It's Hollywood magic!
Vox hit the nail with this article. Living in fear of things real and imagined is self-imprisonment and denial of our legacy. The refusal to belittle those chained by political correctness is more out of maturity than not wanting to do so.
The author should quit reading about men and go talk to a few. Real men are still building this country and serving in the military. They haven't gone away.
I'm waiting for the day Hollywood stops getting their leading men from the local modeling agency. They would find better examples from our heroes who put in their time in Afganistan and Iraq.
John Wayne and U.S. Army Special Forces Operational Detachment A-323 at Camp Trai Bi, Tay Ninh Province, Republic of Vietnam, June 1966.
real men wouldn't pose like that, would they?
They do all the time. It's just that they don't stand still.
FUnny. Two John Wayne threads posted within minutes of each other. What are the odds?
LOl!
Actually, I saw the previous one and it reminded me of this one.
love the pic. when i was a kid i saw John Wayne in a parade riding in an APC and people were booing and i didnt know why.i remember getting mad about it. later i learned why. Anti American Types and they are still among us.
From McClintock:
Good question. The Duke would no doubt be shocked by the on-going attempt to geld of the American male. Maybe one day, if and when he ceases to be spinning in his grave like a top (which he may be doing) he should be asked somehow.
He's the tallest man in this picture. Wasn't he around six-four?
As for the Duke and 'sharp tongued, nagging wives', hasn't the author seen "McLintock"?
Duke's Golden Rule: "Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness".
"This is where we seperate the men from the boys. Saddle Up".
John Wayne was a great actor and a real nice guy.
Real men are like C. Hathcock, USMC, G.Patton, USA, - and others, maybe not so famous:
Roger Young
Drew Dix (and a nice fellow to boot)
Glenn Smith - (WWII vet - taught me a lot)
and so on.
You draw up your own list, men who have impacted your life, men you honor and look up to.
Yes. John Wayne knew how to put everyone in their rightful place when they got out of line...
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