Be a Man (and a Gentleman)

There are those who walk among us that believe gender and gender roles are created by us--people.  Nothing could be further from the truth or more false.  Men should embrace their manliness, while still striving to be gentlemen.  It is here that I will help men understand how to be both.

Manly                                                                  Gentlemanly

Understand the basics of auto-mechanics           Change a tire for a stranded lady

Know your way around the woods.  Get             Take your boots off before walking in
muddy.                                                                 the house.

Go hunting, even if you don't kill anything.        Bring breakfast home for your              
                                                                             woman after not killing anything.

Drink a beer and build a bonfire.                         Don't get drunk around your woman.

Understand technology.                                       Call her, don't text.

It's okay to scratch your crotch.                           It's not okay to scratch your butt.

Own a truck.                                                        Open the door for her (in and out).

Own jeans and wear them proudly.                     Do not EVER buy/wear skinny jeans.

Use "ain't" sparingly.                                           Know "ain't" is grammatically
                                                                             incorrect.

Read often.                                                           Playboy does not constitute a book.

Drink coffee, not latte.                                         Drink tea with your woman.
(Real men do not walk into Starbucks)

Watch football--lots of it.                                    Watch The Notebook with your
                                                                             woman (don't tell your friends).


Go fishing.  Catch fish.  Grill them.                    Eat the vegetables your woman cooks
                                                                             (even if you don't like them).

Mow the yard.  That's your job.                          Build a bonfire using the clippings as
                                                                             a fire starter.  Roast a marshmallow
                                                                             or two for your woman.

Get in a few fistfights when you're young.         Make your woman feel protected.

If you're going on a road trip, you drive.             Let her pick the radio station (do NOT
                                                                             hum along to anything by REO
                                                                             Speedwagon).

 Scratch your back on the corner of a wall.         Offer to put lotion on her back.  She'll
                                                                             let you know when she wants lotion
                                                                             on her front.  You don't always have to
                                                                             offer.

Brace yourself with a hand on the wall as          Raise the seat to pee, put it down when
you urinate.                                                         finished.

Own and wear a canvass winter coat.                 Never, ever own/wear one of those
                                                                            fluffy down coats.  That's just wrong.

Work hard, get sweaty and stink.                       Take a shower.

Embrace your manliness and gender                  She wants a MAN and a
differences!                                                         GENTLEMAN!


It's really that simple guys.  And I have news for my metropolitan friends: even if she tells you she finds manly men roguish and Neanderthal-ish.....she doesn't.  She's thinking about us while you're playing Candy Crush on your new iPhone. 
    


                                                                                                                                                                                

There REALLY Are Some Folks Who Need a Hand

As I exited I-40 in Raleigh, North Carolina today, a man caught my attention.  I've seen hundreds of folks begging for money on street corners and at intersections, but this particular individual intrigued me.  Why?  I can't explain it, other than seeing him dressed in multi-colored BDU's, wearing a red cloth mask, waving a flag as I passed him and standing at a busy intersection just off the interstate. 

I checked into my hotel room, hungry and tired.  The hotel receptionist suggested a local restaurant for lunch, so I drove the short distance and ordered my food.  All the while my mind drifted to the man at the intersection.  Who was that guy?  What's his story? 

Like most who pass this man, I assumed he was a war veteran but have been around the block enough times to realize he could be playing on the sympathies of the unknowing.  I asked the hotel's desk clerk if she knew the guy's story; she said she didn't, but said, "he's out there every day."  That told me he was probably homeless......but it didn't stop me from grabbing my camera and walking the tenth of a mile to meet him.

I approached the man and engaged him in conversation.  Upon asking where he lost his legs and where he served, I figured out quickly he wasn't a war veteran but he seemed to have a voice for those who have served.  I was right in my assumption about his homelessness and "begging" for money, yet when a car stopped and offered him a dollar, he asked me to hold it.  When I tried to give it back to him, he replied, "Nah man, give it to your church.  I just want people to be aware of what our forgotten soldiers go through.  I ain't in this for the money."

I held his dollar and listened to him preach to me about everything from Obama's imperialism to the evil that befell the Roman Empire.  For several minutes I struggled to follow what he was telling me or the message he was trying to convey.  Maybe he was enjoying having someone to talk to other than a passing motorist.  Or perhaps in his mind everything he was talking about made sense.  Regardless, this man touched me in some strange, primal way.  He called himself, "Everysoldier." 

At the end of the day, I know he was hustling a buck, but he wasn't a stupid man by any means.  He was a man who had a message, no matter how discombobulated it was, and was determined to tell his tale.  Was it his albatross?  I don't know......but I listened, and I'm glad I did.