My FB friend (hopefully soon-to-be my real life friend) Christina Love Lee tagged me in this note. Thanks Christina for being a fellow sister in Christ and for having me in mind when you read this!
"The strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders,
but in the width of his arms that embrace you.
The strength of a man isn`t in the deep tone of his voice,
but in the gentle words he whispers in your ear.
The strength of a man isn`t how many friends he has,
but in how good a friend he is to his kids and his lady.
The strength of a man isn`t in how respected he is at work,
but in how he respects others.
The strength of a man isn`t in how hard he hits,
but in how tender he touches.
The strength of a man isn`t in the hair on his chest,
but in the heart that lies underneath it.
The strength of a man isn`t in how many women he`s loved,
but in how true he can be to one woman.
The strength of man isn`t in the weight he can lift,
but in the burdens he can carry."
In my humble opinion, the proper idea of what constitutes a real man has become lost over the decades. It started with the do-your-own-thing moral relativism of the 1960's, the idea that no one can ever say that anything that anyone else does is ever wrong. The so-called sexual revolution, which was ignited by the invention of the birth control pill and capped by the legalization of abortion was a big part of it. They enabled the tsunami of adultery, fornication, STDs and abortions which we see in society today. And part of that was the mainstream acceptance of pornography, starting with the Playboy magazine. The issue is the objectification of women and the inner negative impact on men who consume pornography. The end result has been rampant sexual exploitation of women in society, including pornography, sexual harrassment, assaults and rapes. The media is saturated with innapropriate and explotive sexuality and violence. So many men feel entitled to sexually exploit women. I am totally revolted by this. Rather than liberate women, the sexual revolution has made more women more frequent targets of predatory and lustful males. And the radical feminists have reinforced all this be welcoming and embracing the sexual revolution. There were some good things about the sexual revolution. What I especailly hate is that they are pushing sex and sexuality down to increasingly lower age groups. I absolutely hate that. Of the sexual revolution, certain things had previoslly been kept hidden or were considered scandolous were wrong. There should be frank and open appropriate sex education too. Reason ansd ethics teaches that with freedom comes responsibility. Nowhere do I see society teaching responsibility to males, except in the church.
ReplyDeleteAnd then we have all the other psychopathic macho crap that socity refuses to rebuke: guns, gun play, violence, drinking, and the physical and emotional abuse and control of women.
When I as in Catholic high school, we were taught that a real man was one who tuck to his principles. A real man had moral backbone. Unfortunately society tells real men of the Judaic-Christian sort that we are weak, effeminate or wimps. And even more unfortunately, so many women go along with it.
By way of disclaimer, I am not perfect myself. I am an Original Sinner. But I admit that my sins are sins; I confess them to God and resolve to do better.
But I do know that real men should respect and protect the human dignity of woman.
Afterwards, I revised what I wrote above and sent it to my close email friends, which includes 2 atheists. I have gotten some responses. I had expected that some people would be angry/livid at me, but none were. I had written my rant spontaneously and without reflection afterwards. In hindsight, I
ReplyDeletethink I failed to say what I really wanted to say. I should have stressed male responsibility. It really bothers me that all of the issues, including that of abortion, what I do not hear are demands for male responsibility, both before the fact and after mistakes have been made. It is an injustice that women must be the ongoing victims of male mistakes. Lowered sexual mores in society, contraception, and legalized abortion have enabled many males in society to rationalize the abdication of responsibility. Last thought: Not all males have shirked responsibility!
You are in my prayers.
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