{"id":133,"date":"2019-01-17T18:36:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T18:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=133"},"modified":"2019-01-17T18:43:49","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T18:43:49","slug":"the-best-a-man-can-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/01\/17\/the-best-a-man-can-be\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best a Man can Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Best a Man Can Be<\/p>\n

The new Gillette ad sparked something in me\u2026and I liked it. I understand why some men don\u2019t want to be lectured on masculinity. A large number of us have been doing it right for some time. But I understand the need and the push for men to hold each other accountable and embrace their roles in society as well. The problem is, society has attempted to redefine what our role is. If you really want us to embrace our roles, then let us be who God created us to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"God didn\u2019t create us to be passive. He didn\u2019t create us to be the fools on sitcoms. He created us to be strong, masculine, men who know when to say sorry, stop, enough, yes ma\u2019am and thank you. We were created to know when to stand up to improper conduct and be the leader in the moment. To be the one that women and children lean on in times of fear and worry. Please eliminate the notion that we must raise boys to be weak, passive, spineless kids that grow up to be the subject of prime-time comedy shows. But there\u2019s a balance. To whom much is given, much is required. It\u2019s strong to stand up to mean people. But it\u2019s also strong to stop and pray. It\u2019s strong to treat your wife like a queen. It\u2019s strong to say I\u2019m sorry. The weakest thing you can do is pick on someone that can\u2019t defend themselves. If you feel the need to pick on someone that can\u2019t defend themselves, I beg you to please come pick on me instead.<\/p>\n

To the best of my memory, I was never bullied nor did I bully. The only reason I was never bullied was because I was taller than everyone my age and I was pretty mean when I needed to be. But even in \u201cmy day\u201d, bullying was not acceptable. It was never acceptable. I found myself, at times, stepping in when I saw something that I could tell was damaging someone. Because of who I was and my size, the incident ended. That\u2019s about the extent of my knowledge of bullying. But there was this one time\u2026<\/p>\n

I had just transferred to a new middle school. Some girl decided to say what she thought of me out loud in front of her very popular boyfriend. He didn\u2019t care too much for his girlfriend talking about some new kid. I\u2019m walking my \u201cgirl\u201d home and I look behind me and there\u2019s approximately 20 boys being led by the \u201cboyfriend\u201d to find me and beat me up. My girl\u2019s parents let me in the house until the mob subsided. I agreed to fight one but everyone else had to leave. They all left. So there was no fight. I remember what that felt like. It was the closest I can imagine a bullied person feeling like. It was awful. (Side note: the boyfriend and I became friends later in high school, never fought).<\/p>\n

Bullying is definitely something that is easier to hide these days because of the digital world we live in. But news flash, it hasn\u2019t gotten worse, it\u2019s just recorded more often now. We didn\u2019t have cell phones that recorded video when I was a kid. It\u2019s basically the same but not much better either. It\u2019s still rampant. There is a solution, but it\u2019s not easy and requires help from many moving parts.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s men\u2019s view of women. I\u2019ve found over the years that boys who grew up with sisters treated girls much better than those who didn\u2019t. This is primarily because they were forced to live in the same house with them and began to see them as humans capable of feelings, an intellectual equal and someone who had the potential to make the world a better place. In our society, if a boy isn\u2019t forced to view a girl that way, she becomes an object of his overdrive of hormones. A means for sexual release. One of the reasons this is even a possibility is because they manage to find girls who have a poor self-image and are simply looking for that reassurance that they are smart, pretty, and worthy. They don\u2019t value themselves at all. Thus the connection between a boy that only views her as an object and a girl that doesn\u2019t have a father who\u2019s instilled in her who she is and what she\u2019s worth. So really, all parts are to blame for the existing crisis of bullying and sexual misconduct. There\u2019s no one person or one group. We all play a part. Just look at the R. Kelly situation. Money and power bought him the opportunity to continue abusing women\u2026to this day. So everyone plays a role in some way. I love talking about solutions more so than the problems. But that\u2019s just it, the solution poses another problem.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s climate, men are told that chivalry is sexist. They are taught by society that doing their God-given job of providing, leading, and protecting is also sexist. I submit to you that you can\u2019t have it both ways. EITHER we let men hold doors open for women and protect them OR we do as they ask and get out of the way. I think the real solution is obvious. But it starts with fathers\u2026.\u201doh boy\u2026 here he goes again\u201d. Yes, I may keep going until we have a crisis of men stepping up to lead their families and children.<\/p>\n

Fathers<\/strong>: If you want to see young men grow up to treat women with the utmost respect, treat your wife with the utmost respect. If you want them to grow up not being a bully, let them see you feel. Let them see your compassion. Let them see you defend the honor of someone.<\/p>\n

Mothers<\/strong>: If you want to see the same results, let the father do his job. Sometimes the mother stops the father from being the best father he can be because they are no longer together and she despises him. Sometimes they\u2019re together and she despises him. But he\u2019s still their father. It\u2019s difficult, but you must LOVE your children MORE than you hate your ex. This may be difficult to grasp, but there are things that ALL children need that ONLY a father can provide.<\/p>\n

Parents<\/strong>: One of the best things you can do for your children is treat your spouse or ex-spouse with the utmost respect, honor, and dignity regardless of how you feel about them at times. These are the things that lead to less bullying and less misconduct toward women. It\u2019s a heart issue. You can\u2019t legislate the heart.<\/p>\n

\"\"No, I didn\u2019t need someone to sit me down and teach me that I shouldn\u2019t rape or bully. But I also had a father that was a good example of everyday living. All boys aren\u2019t that fortunate. Men must step in and be role models when you see there\u2019s a need there. And women must let men be men and hold them accountable when they act like boys. Then, and only then, we will be…..<\/p>\n

The Best a Man can be.<\/p>\n

Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Best a Man Can Be The new Gillette ad sparked something in me\u2026and I liked it. I understand why some men don\u2019t want to be lectured on masculinity. A large number of us have been doing it right for some time. But I understand the need and the push for men to hold each … <\/p>\n

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