I'll Make a Man Out Of You!

What it means to be a man? To be swift as the coursing rive, with all the force of a great Typhoon with all the strength of a raging fire mysterious as the dark side of the moon! Question answered class dismissed have a great day!

Okay all kidding aside, I really have to say I don’t like this question, because the cultural answer is kind of . . . depressing? Like never cry, don’t look weak, protect women because they can’t take care of themselves, be muscular, have “SWAG” be gangster, school isn’t as important. Well that’s what the Media tells me anyways. Is that why I stopped watching T.V? Maybe so.

In my family it’s a little different. Being a man in my family’s case means taking care of the family, even when you have had a bad day listen to the other family members. It means up early on Saturday, to clean everything up and out the door. It means shedding a tear is showing strength.

Okay, so I don’t really leave my house often, I am a littler hermit. But when I do get to be around guys (It is mostly in school) I always seem to hear them tailing about what girl is the hottest, or cursing excessively. Or talking about what’s going on in sports. I feel like today in our culture even in a pathetic population of a couple hundred adolescent teens who have no idea what is going on, it all about Image.

These expectations are not only unrealistic but can define how a male is viewed by society. If a male is quiet and reserved, sometimes he could be judged and declared abnormal, or a lover. Which In some places is admired, but more often than not the young man would be written off as a reject. Simply for not following the “Norm” If a young man is slight, has glasses, and prefers to study. He is a nerd, and can't be cool (In today’s culture we are more accepting of nerds.) But if a guy walks around swearing, talks down, talks about how many girls he gets he’s suddenly cool.

Just watching all the males in y life, family friends, and friend’s parents. I can say that these ideas are not correct.  My grandfather was a hardworking man, who as a teenager was slight, wore thick rimmed glasses, defined in appearance as a nerd. But he was a great man who would get up go to work even if he wasn’t feeling well. He refused to take time off of work. His only goal was to take care of our family. He was what I came to see as the proper man. My friend’s father who I call papa is fun loving and enjoyable to be around. Another example of what a man is, even though he was big into sports. So no I feel now a days and even back a few generations men still strayed from the “Ideals.”