A Call to Arms
What is manhood? What makes a man? Are we men simply because of the genitals we carry? Are we said to be men just because we reach a certain age? The answers, as I see them, to these questions aren’t too difficult to find. We are only men when we act as men. We are men when we become responsible for our actions. When we develop character and principles is when we become men.
They say actions speak louder than words. I believe that to be a true statement. I especially believe that when it comes to acting like a man. I believed myself to be a man on my 18th birthday, but I was mistaken. Far from that day is when I finally started to metamorphose into a man. I was a child pretending to be a man well into my mid-twenties. Until that time I was saying one thing and doing another. I was dressing like a kid. I was always in shorts and a t-shirt. Yes, the way we dress has a lot to do with being a man. For instance, a man would “dress for dinner” some years ago. Even in his own home and at his own dinner table he would make sure to wear a shirt. Not a t-shirt, but a full button-down shirt. Of late, we see so called men taking their families to dinner and they are dressed in shorts a tank-top and flip-flops. This seems ludicrous to me. Actions make the man. A man’s actions should be his words and his words should be his actions. By this I mean that a man should always act in accordance with what he believes and expounds. Therefore, if he wants to be seen and treated like a man he should act like a man.
Of course, this is all part of developing character. Character in a man is the signature he puts on his life’s accomplishments. To wit, a man’s accomplishments mean much less if he acquired them without character. An example of this would be; a person reaches his goal of earning a six figure income, but he does it by treachery and less than honorable means. This, to me, is less of an accomplishment than if it had been done with good moral conduct.
Character will only thrive on a foundation of principles. Principles are a set of beliefs within a man that cannot be bought off or cast aside. Principles are what give a man his strength. They are the strength to stand up for himself, the strength to say yes when everyone else says no. Principles are what give man courage. Without principles and character we would be but boys and cowards.
Manhood has taken a big hit in the past few decades, but it lives in some of us. For those of us, and I consider myself a neophyte at it, who are men in every sense of the word, we have the responsibility to instill true manhood onto others for the betterment of our society.
