When I say, “A man needs to lead his family,” and “Men need to step up into leadership.” I get a lot of anger, resentment, hostility, and vitriol directed my way.
I understand that a lot of the negativity is rooted in experiences with misogynistic tyrants who ruled over their family with a case of beer and a drunken fist.
I also understand that not every family looks the same.
I am not saying that men are somehow “entitled” to “rule” over their families.
I am not saying men need to outrank women. We are n
I think the word “leadership” has a lot of negative connotations attached to it, and I think it’s time to understand that to LEAD is not to DOMINATE.
In my family, my wife and I CO-lead. There are times when I lead her, and times when she leads me.
Leadership is service. It’s responsibility. It’s influence.
It’s a GOOD thing when men embrace this with humility and with a desire to learn how to lead better.
I haven’t listened to Beck in a while, and in my mind… Beck is still “Two Turntables and a Microphone” kinda crazy funky hip hop alternative stuff.
But Morning Phase is nothing of the sort. It’s got spring-loaded reverby guitars spreading space dust while a simple acoustic chord structure chugs along like a slow train to Georgia, or somewhere West, maybe.
Lots of dreamy falsetto, and it’s a big mellow pot of 70’s lite rock with lots of grunge left over from the last meal.
To me, Beck is usually a good soundtrack for skate punks and parkour… energetic and singable, with jaded lyrics. This album is what happens after those skate punks retire from skating and get hooked on percoset – then lay down in a high grass field and look at the clouds.
I LIKE it – don’t get me wrong – but it’s definitely not what I expected when I clicked “Play” on a Beck album.
If you are like me, and you enjoy a good GUY flick… but are also a cheapskate and enjoy netflix… than you’ll appreciate our Netflix Manly Movie Night features.
Flyboys stars James Franco as a country boy who enlisted with France to fly a fighter plane during World War I.
The movie isn’t certainly not Oscar winning material… but does it need to be? With lots of visually intriguing aerial battles, a bit of romance (enough that your wife or girlfriend wouldn’t mind watching it with you.) It’s also got a pet lion, and some fantastic characters, and a few tear jerking moments.
It also sparked my interest in WWI. I know very little about the Great War, as it’s the Second Great War that gets a lot of “glory” … however, there is a lot of heroism and tragedy in the history of WWI. I’m looking forward to delving a little more into history.
Acting: B-
Visuals: A
Fun: B+
Date Night : B
Guys Night: A
Family Night: B-
As the weather starts to turn, it’s time to emerge from your home-based hibernation and experience the outdoors again. Nothing beats cracking a beer outside with just the heat from a fire on a cool night. Of course, buying a fire pit will easily run you $100+ depending on […]
Vladimir Putin wants to improve the physical fitness of Russians of all ages, and to achieve that he has turned to the era of brutal dictator Joseph Stalin for inspiration.
On Monday, he announced that a Stalinist fitness program from the 1930s, called “Ready for Labor and Defense,” will be revived and funded by leftover cash from the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Vlad is the manliest of manly… or at least – that’s definitely what his Ministry of the Press would like to convey. I do not like Stalin, and I don’t particularly like Putin… I also don’t like mandated government fitness programs… however… I think the generation of strong men that this program raises up will be much stronger then Michelle Obama’s protege’s. What say you?
What does it take to be a “good” man? How do we recognize a “good” man? Is it how they are dressed? The best shoes or shirt? Is it how eloquently they speak or how much money they make? I will make this a very short answer. NO! You can talk about being a good man, you can even try to look the part. However, talking about being a good man doesn’t make you one. It takes action and motivation to become something more.
I asked my 14-year-old son Koda what his definition of a “goods” man was, and here was his reply. “A good man is one who is made like a building. However, every good building needs a good foundation. That foundation can consist of many things (some good, some bad). The foundation needs to be based in faith, family, and friends. Atop the foundation is what makes up the man, the supporting beams, outside structure, and whatever is inside of the building. A good building is able to protect what’s inside of it, and will do so at any cost, even at the risk of its own integrity, as a good man should. However, what’s inside the “building”, so to speak? Inside the building is a man’s heart, and whatever it contains (friends, family, faith, and anything else that the man loves). A good example is my grandfather on my mother’s side. He served his country in WWII, earning no less than 3 purple heart awards, given to those who protected their country at all costs. That is what I think of when a “good” man is mentioned.”
After he was done explaining, Koda turned to me and asked the same question, to which I replied, “When I think of a good man, I think of my dad. He worked 16-hour days for the majority of my childhood, taking care of my entire family (a family of 7, total)”. As I was thinking of my father, I remembered a story from my childhood. When I was 8-years-old, we went to visit my grandmother. She lived back in the woods (thick woods, at that!). My brother and I decided that we would go exploring. As we went further into the woods, we lost both track of time, and the path back home. It wasn’t very long afterward that it began to get dark. As the Sun began to set, I became more and more frightened. I didn’t want to admit my fears to my brother, but I had never been as scared in my life. We turned around, and headed back in the direction which we thought led back home. As we continued to walk, we realized that we had been walking in circles. My brother and I sat down, and just as we were about to cry, I heard my father’s voice calling out for us. He made the choice to come and find us. He didn’t wait for us to get more lost, but found us as quickly as he could. Being a man is made up of choices. Some choices are good, and some are not. However, a good man learns from the ones which are not.
As we face the choices every day, we must put our wanting to be a good man into action. Being a good man does not happen overnight, nor is it a passive attribute. You must choose to be a good man, at all times. It’s easy to make the wrong choices, and it’s easy to lead yourself off of the path which you wish to lead, but it’s the ability to put yourself back on this path that makes a good man.
A good man doesn’t always do what is easy or most popular, but a good man will always strive to do what is best.
