To be wild, to hear the heartbeat of nature, to feel the rush of adrenal strength, to drink from the fresh air and howl at the moon – these are things that are embedded into men.
The law of the wild – the order – the code if you will, matters. When we talk about living wild, we’re not talking about living without morals. There has to be honor. I know that some men define honor differently. Jack Donovan says the word honor has its root in the glory that came from ancient warriors who fought valiantly. He claims that now that we’ve spread out the honor like a participation trophy to anyone who does something good – we’ve stripped it all away. I can’t say I agree wholeheartedly, but he makes a good point. A man of honor, though, isn’t just a brave or strong man, he’s a man with integrity, who KNOWS right from wrong, and lives it. He needs no government to enforce it. While he may be spiritual and commune with God, he doesn’t require religion to police his behavior. If he is a spiritual man who communes with God – he doesn’t follow the code because he is frightened of lightning or hell, he follows the code because his friend is God. Regardless of his faith or lack thereof though – we live in an age that struggles to define that code. Right and wrong have slipped away in the tsunami of relativism. While some things in life are relative – the truth is – somethings just aren’t relative! I can’t begin to answer the questions that living in a relativistic society dredges up. As a Christian, I’m often accused of being judgmental, because I have a believe in the idea of moral absolutes. I know that not everyone shares my judeo-christian worldview. I don’t expect everyone to do so… but I do think that as our culture has become more secular, they have perhaps thrown out a few babies with the bathwater – and neglected moral codes that were previously accepted as universal in their attempts to distance themselves from Christianity. I know we won’t agree on what morals are universal. I get that. But I would encourage you to determine what your code is.
To be wild, to hear the heartbeat of nature, to feel the rush of adrenal strength, to drink from the fresh air and howl at the moon – these are things that are embedded into men.
Something else that we’ve lost when our culture became civilized and pushed out the wild men – the fire. Today, we gather around the television and let people tell us stories, with the imagination already painted for us. Or we pretend to gather in virtual communities – typing with our thumbs and sending each other cat videos and poop emojis. But in the WILD – men gathered around a fire at the end of the evening. The fire cooked the food from the hunt. It kept the predators away. It kept the tribe warm. But more importantly than that, it united them. It gave them communion with each other, with the stories of their ancestors. They laughed, sang, and told stories while the little ones fell asleep in daddy’s lap. Generations later, we brought the fire from the outside to the inside, in stone hearths. Our tribes were smaller, but the same thing happened. Grandpa played his fiddle, Pa smoked his pipe. Grandma braided hair and they told stories of the good old days. Today, our heat is made from underground pipes or copper coils. Our songs are auto-tuned, and we all listen to our own with our Beats by Dre or earbuds. Our stories aren’t even our own anymore – as we stopped having real adventures generations ago. OR we’re afraid that Grandpa’s war stories might frighten the children, or trigger the young and traumatized adults. (When Grandpa was their age, he was in ‘Nam dodging bullets.) But now Grandpa lives in Florida, or in a nursing home, rather than to spend his remaining years with his loved ones. Can we recapture the tribal fire? Can we sit with our band of brothers, their wives, kids, moms, and dads and tell stories again? Can we teach our kids that electronics are nice, but sometimes the untamed and raw beauty of a fire is what our soul really craves?
This week’s #mancrushmonday celebrates the greatest baseball hitter of all time. He was a legend among men, and his legendary status is almost mythological to every little leaguer. Who doesn’t wish they could step up to the plate and point exactly where they are going to hit the ball. Who doesn’t want to be the strongest and best player on the field?
At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he learned life lessons and baseball skills from Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Christian Brothers, the school’s disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-leaguebaseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with Boston, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919.
After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee controversially sold Ruth to the Yankees, an act that, coupled with Boston’s subsequent championship drought, popularized the “Curse of the Bambino” superstition. In his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League (AL) championships and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport’s popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era of baseball, in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees’ vaunted “Murderer’s Row” lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, extending his MLB single-season record. He retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times.
Here’s a few quotes from The Bambino: “The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball.”
“I hear the cheers when they roared and the jeers when they echoed.”
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
“I said I’m going to hit the next one right over the flagpole. God must have been with me.”
“I have just one superstition. Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.”
“Baseball changes through the years. It gets milder.”
“I won’t be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.”
“All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.”
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”
“Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.”
“If I’d tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around six hundred.”
“How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball… The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
“As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.”
“Baseball is the greatest game in the world and deserves the best you can give it.”
“Watch my dust.”
“I’ve never heard a crowd boo a homer, but I’ve heard plenty of boos after a strikeout.”
“All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don’t know except it looked good.”
“I thank heaven we have had baseball in this world… the kids… our national pastime.”
“You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth – that means the boys. And after you’ve been a boy, and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in our national pastime.”
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from coming up to bat.”
“To my sick little pal. I will try to knock you another homer, maybe two today.” “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
Wikipedia has a great bio on Evil, and you can read more about his exploits here:
But here’s a few snippets.
Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel (/ˈiːvəl kᵻˈniːvəl/;[1] October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps, and, in 1974, a canyon jump across Snake River Canyon (which failed) in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.[2] He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida in 2007, aged 69.
One of Evel’s qualities was that he had great pride in his core values. Throughout his career (and later life), he would repeatedly talk about the importance of “keeping his word”.[39] He stated that although he knew he may not successfully make a jump or even survive the canyon jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Prior to the canyon jump, Knievel stated, “If someone says to you, ‘that guy should have never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, that he’d lose his life and that he was crazy.’ Do me a favor. Tell him that you saw me here and regardless of what I was, that you knew me, and that I kept my word.”[citation needed]
In the documentary Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington. Knievel knew the jump was questionable, but stated, “I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you’re going to do something, you’ve gotta do it.” In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton (as Evel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, as it was another one of his core values.[40] Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts. One organization that Knievel regularly slammed for being drug dealers was the Hells Angels.[6] A near-riot erupted on March 3, 1971, at the Cow Palace when a tire-iron (or Coke can according to the Hells Angels) was thrown at Knievel during his stunt show, and Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, sending three of the fifteen Hells Angels to the hospital. He also starred in a motion picture, Viva Knievel!, in which his character (himself) foils a drug lord’s attempt to smuggle narcotics into the United States.
If you have some time to kill – check out this Evel Knievel Biography
Spring is in the air. The smell of mud and the opening of tree buds just seems to wake up not only the world outside our windows, but it seems to awaken something in us. Men, let’s take advantage of the natural cycle of the universe to reinvigorate our lives!
The winter is in your mind. You know those times when everything has gone WRONG for so long, and you feel like you just can’t get a win? When you’re tired of just going through the motions? When you feel weary from the road? Take a minute and fast forward to your desired outcome. What does your life look like if you were to lose the weight? What does your marriage look like if you fix the problems? What do your kids look like when they grow up? Try not to imagine the worst case scenario, but the best one. Then trace your steps back to where you are standing. What steps do you have to make to get there? What changes do you have to make? What sacrifices and hard work will you have to put in? These rough patches sometimes feel permanent -but they usually aren’t. Especially if you are taking the time to imagine a better path, and to make the changes and put in the work to get there.
Teddy Roosevelt is a hero of mine for a number of reasons. He takes us back to a day when statesman could be strong and bull-headed and speak their minds, but they could do it with class. Teddy’s was born a city boy to a rich family, and yet he longed for the wilderness, and spent much time amidst the trees and fields and beasts. He was a soldier, a gentleman, and a fierce political contender. He is known as the founder of the Progressive movement – which today looks very little like the ideals which Roosevelt espoused. He believed that it was the duty of all americans to help create equality of opportunity for all. That meant opportunity to work hard to earn a living. I could rant about today’s incarnation of the progressive movement and the push for wealth redistribution, but that may be a post for another day. Today, I want to celebrate the virtue and the value of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt is also known for being shot before delivering a speech, as a political candidate running for a third term (that was allowed, back then) and refused to cancel the event, delivering his speech with the bullet still in his chest. How manly can you get? Wikipedia has this to say: Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (/ˈroʊzəvɛlt/roh-zə-velt;[a] October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United Statesfrom 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century.
Born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, Roosevelt successfully overcame his health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle. He integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of interests, and world-famous achievements into a “cowboy” persona defined by robust masculinity. Home-schooled, he began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College. His first of many books, The Naval War of 1812 (1882), established his reputation as both a learned historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became the leader of the reform faction of Republicans in New York’s state legislature. Following the deaths of his wife and mother, he took time to grieve by escaping to the wilderness of the American West and operating a cattle ranch in the Dakotas for a time, before returning East to run unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York City in 1886. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under William McKinley, resigning after one year to serve with the Rough Riders, where he gained national fame for courage during the Spanish–American War. Returning a war hero, he was elected governor of New York in 1898. The state party leadership distrusted him, so they took the lead in moving him to the prestigious but powerless role of vice president as McKinley’s running mate in the election of 1900. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously across the country, helping McKinley’s re-election in a landslide victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity, and conservatism.
Following the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901, Roosevelt succeeded to the office at age 42, becoming the youngest United States President in history. Leading his party and country into the Progressive Era, he championed his “Square Deal” domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. Making conservation a top priority, he established a myriad of new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nation’s natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began construction of the Panama Canal. He greatly expanded the United States Navy, and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States’ naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.
Elected in 1904 to a full term, Roosevelt continued to promote progressive policies, but many of his efforts and much of his legislative agenda were eventually blocked in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his close friend, William Howard Taft, to succeed him in the presidency. After leaving office, Roosevelt went on safari in Africa and toured Europe. Returning to the U.S., he became frustrated with Taft’s approach as his successor. He tried but failed to win the presidential nomination in 1912. Roosevelt founded his own party, the Progressive, so-called “Bull Moose” Party, and called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. The split among Republicans enabled the Democrats to win both the White House and a majority in the Congress in 1912. The Democrats in the South had also gained power by having disenfranchised most blacks (and Republicans) from the political system from 1890 to 1908, fatally weakening the Republican Party across the region, and creating a Solid South dominated by their party alone. Republicans aligned with Taft nationally would control the Republican Party for decades.
Frustrated at home, Roosevelt led a two-year expedition in the Amazon Basin, nearly dying of tropical disease. During World War I, he opposed President Woodrow Wilson for keeping the U.S. out of the war against Germany, and offered his military services, which were never summoned. Although planning to run again for president in 1920, Roosevelt suffered deteriorating health and died in early 1919. Roosevelt has consistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.[2] Historians admire Roosevelt for rooting out corruption in his administration, but are critical of his 1909 libel lawsuits against the World and the News. Large corporate funding to the Republicans in the 1904 election continued to be a source of controversy for Roosevelt during his second term of office and in his 1912 Republican presidential nomination bid. His face was carved into Mount Rushmore alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.
Check out these quotes from Theodore Roosevelt
“Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”
“To sit home, read one’s favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men’s doing.”
“A soft, easy life is not worth living, if it impairs the fibre of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage… For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.”
“I don’t pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.”
“We must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood, and endurance, and above all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded this Republic in the days of Washington, which made great the men who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln.”
“Unless a man is master of his soul, all other kinds of mastery amount to little.”
Spring is in the air. The smell of mud and the opening of tree buds just seems to wake up not only the world outside our windows, but it seems to awaken something in us. Men, let’s take advantage of the natural cycle of the universe to reinvigorate our lives! Many men have a hard time with the spiritual. They struggle with the idea that spirit exists. Why? Because it’s not knowable. It’s not tangible. And talk of the spiritual gets muddied up by 18 million different religious viewpoints. I may subscribe to one of those viewpoints, and I’m sure my writing will reflect it. But I’m not here to preach about why my viewpoint is right and others are wrong. (even if I do believe so) What I’m here to do – is to tell you that the spiritual is real, and you’ve got to keep that fire going. Inside each of us is a spirit that drives us. It’s fueled by creativity, art, poetry, beauty. It’s fueled by thought, conversation, reading. If you neglect the spiritual part of you, the rest of you will feel hungry for purpose and passion. How do you reignite it, after a long “winter”? 1. Do what makes you feel alive. I’m not saying, “ do whatever you want” or “just make yourself happy” I’m saying, there are moments in your life when you felt alive. For me – it’s often when I’m performing music on stage, speaking to a large group of people, hiking in the woods, or writing. You might feel alive tossing the football in the backyard, hunting that big buck, or building a house. Take some time to identify what makes you feel alive – and do more of it. 2. Define or revisit your code. Spirituality has a code of ethics. That’s why religion usually has a list of do’s and don’ts…. Because morality is closely tied with the spiritual. I know. People don’t like to think about it. I’ve already lost some of you – who can’t handle the fact that anyone would dare tell you to be moral. Take the time to define your code of ethics, or to revisit that code to make sure it lines up with who you are. 3. Try something new. 2016 was a crazy year for me. I started a new desk job, gained a bunch of weight, and neglected a number of things. I decided one day that I was sick of it and needed to change things. So I started doing and discovering things I didn’t think I could do. I hiked six miles. I lost 40 pounds. I tried on a sweatshirt that I could never wear and it fit. I ice-skated at my daughter’s birthday party. I emceed a major event (in a tux). It was just an amazing year after I decided to do new things. It made me feel like I had awakened. 2017 is shaping up even better.
Growing up the 1980’s and 90’s – there was no more truly heroic figure for most us than Michael Jordan. We wanted his shoes, we wanted to be the kind of athlete he was – wanted to jump and fly like he did…. But it is his drive and his motivation that makes him today’s Manlihood.com Man Crush Monday. Here’s a quick bio from Wikipedia: Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials, MJ,[3] is an American retired professional basketball player. He is also a businessman, and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets. Jordan played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. His biography on the NBA website states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”[4] Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.[5] Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels’ national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the NBA’s Chicago Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames “Air Jordan” and “His Airness”. He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball.[6] In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a “three-peat”. Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards.
Jordan’s individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Among his numerous accomplishments, Jordan holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century. Jordan is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team (“The Dream Team”). He became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015.
And check out 25 of Jordan’s best quotes: 1. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” – Michael Jordan
“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.” – Michael Jordan
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan
“If you quit once it becomes a habit. Never quit!” – Michael Jordan
“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.” – Michael Jordan
“Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” – Michael Jordan
“To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail.” – Michael Jordan
“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
“Don’t let them drag you down by rumors just go with what you believe in.” – Michael Jordan
“Make it happen” – Michael Jordan
15.“If you do the work you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.” – Michael Jordan
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
“Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.” – Michael Jordan
“The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether it’s proper technique, work ethic or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you’re doing.” – Michael Jordan
“The key to success is failure.” – Michael Jordan
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan
“Learning’s a gift, even when pain is your teacher.” – Michael Jordan
“Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ball park.” – Michael Jordan
“There is no “I” in team but there is in win.” – Michael Jordan
“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.” – Michael Jordan
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”- Michael Jordan
Spring is in the air. The smell of mud and the opening of tree buds just seems to wake up not only the world outside our windows, but it seems to awaken something in us. Men, let’s take advantage of the natural cycle of the universe to reinvigorate our lives!
I’m in the process of losing weight – and so I’m particularly aware of my body right now. But i do know this – our bodies do respond to the seasons! During the winter time, it’s not unusual to pack on a few extra pounds, as we fight off the cold and are often less active. A reboot in the spring is a great way to get things moving, and add a little more energy into your life as a whole. I’ve found that adding movement to my routine helps me to fight off depression, keeps my focus on track, and just in general, makes me feel better! Here are some tips for your body reboot. 1. Revisit your eating plan. If you aren’t regularly tracking your calories, tracking them at least for a few weeks gives you a good snapshot of what your diet looks like, and if you need to adjust it. Use an app like fitbit or myfitness pal to see how many calories you should be eating, and how many you are eating. Remember – if weight loss is your goal, you have to burn more than you take in. If you want to bulk up- you’ll need to make adjustments to your diet as well. Consider paying a few bucks to meet with a nutritionist. 2. Fasting This isn’t for everybody – but many people say that a three day fast from solid food, or maybe fasting from a particular kind of food for a week helps them to reset their cravings. There are some mental and spiritual benefits too, as the act of delaying your cravings tends to build a different layer of focus in your life. Don’t try this if you have any health issues, or without talking to a doctor. 3. Change your workout. Fitness folks call them “plateaus” – those times when you stop losing weight (or stop building muscle) despite all your hard work. Sometimes, you need to radically change your routine to shock your body back into performance mode. I’ve found in general, if I do the same thing all the time, I get bored with it anyway. Take a hike instead of the treadmill. Swim instead of yoga. Mix up your strength training to try something different.
We’ve long said that March comes in and goes out inversely like a Lion or a Lamb. The thought of being one or the other may be a bit frightening for men. Especially in a culture that no longer appreciates the fierce and bold virtues that once marked manhood. Being a gentleman does not mean that a man gives up his strength – that a man is a pansy. Interestingly enough, my grandmother always told me that a pansy was actually a tough flower. It could stand against the cold, and grow in pretty adverse conditions… it still though has a reputation for being “girly” – and the flower’s name has been embedded culturally to imply weakness or a lack of masculinity. Men – to be a gentleman is a noble calling. It means that you treat people with respect. That you demonstrate politeness, it may mean that you are neat in your appearance, and that you have earned a degree of respect for your knowledge, your artistic abilities, your ability with words, with numbers, or some other “civilized” skill. You might also be a lumberjack, a rig hand, or a truck drive, and be a gentleman in the way you interact with people. But there’s definitely an element of respect shown and received, based on a degree of civility. This civility does not erase the wild, passionate strength that lies in a man’s heart. A gentleman can hold his own in a bout of fisticuffs or fencing. He can heft a child on to his shoulders, pick up his bride to carry her over the threshhold, and defend the tender things he holds dear with ferocity and strength. My thoughts on this are two-fold. 1. Just because you wear a tie to work, or drive a minivan, or eat kale – does not exempt you from the wilder side of manhood. Make sure that you know how to defend yourself and the things and people you love. Make sure you keep your physical body strong and ready to perform. 2. Inversely, just because you are a strong and brave, do not neglect the tender touches needed in civilized life. Say Please and Thank you. Snuggle with your children. Read poetry. These things do not affect your ability to be manly. In fact, I believe they enhance them.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Babe Ruth
arry Frazee
Growing up the 1980’s and 90’s – there was no more truly heroic figure for most us than Michael Jordan. We wanted his shoes, we wanted to be the kind of athlete he was – wanted to jump and fly like he did…. 
