Would all the real men in the world, please stand up??????

I don’t know what the hell happened but somewhere along line, our expectations for our male counterparts just keep getting lower and lower to the point where when a friend says “But he doesn’t beat me”, we are supposed to think that it is a wonderful qualification!

Uhm. NO.

There is a place for everyone. It takes all kinds: a little bit of weird, mixed with straight laced, a dash of goofy and a pinch of impatient equals adventurous, determined, innovative, human. Oh and cute doesn’t hurt. But lately, we hear heartbreaking stories of young men killing each other; “upstanding citizens” using their position and power to intimidate and abuse; the elderly being beaten and conned, their pittance of a social security stolen. Then, there are the fatherless children living in abject poverty as their mothers struggle to provide just the basics. And, what about the middle aged married man hooking teen mistresses with promises of a better life only to leave them broken and worse off than when they started?

We need to move the bar, man. Don’t lie anymore just because people desperately need to believe you. Don’t steal just because you have the keys to the safe. Don’t have children you have no intentions of raising just because you have an itch you gotta scratch. Don’t sell yourself short by not living to your best potential. YOU deserve better. You need to feel your three year old’s arms wrapped around your neck. You need to see the admiration of your teen daughter in her smile, her look. You need to feel the respect of your wife/partner as you leave for work everyday. You need to walk with your head held high because you are honest and hard working.

I promise that the greatest feeling you will ever feel is the feeling you get from serving others. True fulfillment will not come at the bottom of a bottle, the end of a blunt, in the morning after an illicit rendezvous, or sporting that new bling. Get involved. Commit to doing more and doing better. We need you. We welcome you. 

The Sweetest Lives
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The sweetest lives are those to duty wed,
Whose deeds, both great and small,
Are close-knit strands of unbroken thread
Where love ennobles all.
The world may sound no trumpets, ring no bells;
The book of life the shining record tells.

The love shall chant its own beatitudes
After its own life working.  A child’s kiss
Set on thy sighing lips shall make thee glad;
A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong;
Thou shalt be served thyself by every sense
Of service which thous renderest.