Men,
We're lost. We're hurting. We're hurting those around us. We're failing miserably in so many ways. And it doesn't have to be that way. It's time for a change - not just a small, feel-good change ... we need a revolution. A revolution of what it means to take responsibility, and love doing it. A revolution of what it means to say NO to the unending stupidity, sensuality, and sordidness that is offered to us in seemingly unceasing tidal waves. We are not mere animals, and we are not just unthinking consumers of an over-stimulated culture that mandates a brand of "manhood" that is only good for debauchery and wasted strength at the expense of the ones we're here to serve.
It's time for some heavy lifting. It's time that we stand up for true manhood - thereby standing up for our families, neighborhoods, schools, and communities. It's time that the duty of manhood becomes the delight of our hearts and minds. It's time we stopped looking for peace in the mind-numbing and soul-crushing amusements of adult-themed childishness, and instead find our meaning and purpose in what cultivates, what serves, what builds, what protects, what inspires ... in what is real.
It's time for heavy hearts. It's time that our hearts grew heavy over injustices such as fatherlessness and abandoned moms ... instead of over sports defeats. It's time to be angry. It's time our anger was directed at our real failures instead of fantasy failures in video games or sport. It's time to be inspired. It's time we drew our inspiration from the shared succeses of those we are responsible for rather than the meaningless successes of those who entertain us.
In short, it's time that we as men fully embraced the responsibilities, challenges, duties, difficulties, and thrills of manhood with a commitment and fortitude that will change our family, our street, our city, and the world.
Such commitment begins with a value assessment. What, in your life, is really important and valuable? Notice the question is not "what is fun?" or "what is easy?" What, in the final assessment, is valuable? When my eyes are opened to the real answer to that important question, the way forward comes into clearer focus.
Another way to ask it may not sound so masculine, but the question is at the heart of true, noble masculinity: "What do I really love?" Our actions reveal our answer, regardless of what we might say. The weak, impotent, irresponsible man loves himself, his comfort, his inane fantasies of conquest and excitement. The noble man denies himself such things in order to embrace the greater loves of his life.
In any given moment of any given day, my responsibility - and those who are impacted by whether or not I fulfill it - are the most valuable aspects of my existence.
Therefore, I work a job all day every day. I clean and maintain the house, and even the neighborhood, that I live in. I maintain a fitness regimen so that I am better suited to my responsibilities. I stand up for those in my household by denying myself self-indulgent pleasures that would render me a useless blob just when I am wanted and needed the most. I say no to destructive and soul-shrinking entertainment so that I can say yes to duty - yes to what is truly valuable, yes to what I truly love.
So let the weight bear down on your heart. Get angry. Get inspired. Remind yourself of what is truly valuable, and let's get down to business ...
