I once thought I was strong because I could dead-lift 410 lbs. I once thought I was strong because I hit four homeruns in one game, or could jump a 70+ foot motocross double jump, twist the bike sideways in the air and straighten it out again before landing. I was mistaken.
When I became a husband and father, I’ve come to realize this is a feeble and laughable strength. As a young grandfather, I can see it even more clearly.
Real strength is when a husband and a father gets out of bed, every day for years on end, before the sun comes up, leaving his wife and children sleeping peacefully, and puts in a 12-hour work day. Real strength is coming home to a teething baby and a wife that is beyond what she can endure and taking over for a while. Real strength is sleeping with a chicken pox-suffering son for a couple nights because you can’t afford to be weak and let them suffer.
Real strength is taking the wife out to dinner, ‘redding’ up the table after a meal and taking out the trash. It’s fixing the older high-mileage pickup truck so you can get to work the next day. Real strength is holding your baby girl in your arms and she falls asleep instantly because she has complete faith in you.
So what happened to men of real strength and character? Today, my wife and I were at a large Mall in Columbus Ohio. While looking at a bedspread in a furniture store a young man (sort of) pranced up to us and asked if he could help. My wife and I both gaped at the coiffed hair, super tight skinny jeans, multiple piercings, makeup and mascara on “Sort of.” When he spoke, it was with a voice that was even more manicured than his fingernails. We asked him the price of the bedspread and then wandered away to get some fresh air. Outside, my wife turned to me in a common, but forlorn lamentation “Where HAVE all the . . . ?” Go ahead. Finish it.
Where Have all the Real Men Gone?
Every day, the media tells us about how a feminist idol made it big or a homosexual crossdresser became a “hero” while a soldier, who gave his life for his country, is some sort of villain. Or how a farmer who takes care of his land and his family is a mere clod, even more than the dirt that he works in the fields.
Our American culture is more concerned with idolizing the shocking and unconventional lifestyles of Hollywood glitterati (translated ‘losers’) and lying politicians than they are with what happens in real-life America.
So again, I ask, what happened to the real men, husbands, and fathers of America? Why do they seem to be ignored or non-existent? The answer is obvious; so obvious that it’s shocking.
The real men, the men who are building America, blazing trails, keeping the country running, under-appreciated, and over-worked as if it is expected and not worth taking note of — these men are too busy to give a rip.
These men are too busy waking up while it’s still dark outside, working 12 hours a day, coming home and taking care of their wives and children, fixing their old pickup truck, occasionally rocking their babies to sleep, and getting their family to church every Sabbath (or Sunday) to care about publicizing themselves, or seeking validation of some obscene vanity.
They also lead their families in prayer. On the ride home when conversation turned to the disgusting spectacle of “Sort of”, I was reminded by God to pray for this young ‘fellow.’ We did, asking the Lord to rebuke any demons in his life, and to break the cocoon of lies clustered around him; to bring him to peace and joy through a knowledge of God.
So, to the real American men, regardless of color, creed, or politics, this is a tribute to you. YOU are the glue that holds your family together. YOU are needed! YOU are who God made you to be, not some confused “Sort of” swimming in a pool of auto-developed estrogen.
You are the driving force for the economy, regardless of all the Washington politicians’ best attempts to take credit for it. You are the ones making a real and lasting difference in the world because you’re building a life for yourself and your family while carrying freeloaders, exploiters, and societal leeches on your backs in the form of excessive taxes. You are the targets of a western media advertising campaign designed to make you look stupid, ineffective and weak, but you ignore it, and do your duty anyway.
Without you selfless, devoted, hard-working, men of integrity, we wouldn’t have a country to call our own or the freedom to live in the pursuit of happiness.
So, in the unlikely chance that you get a break this week, sit down in your easy chair, have yourself a cool lemonade and pat yourself on the back for once. No one else will and that’s OK because, at the end of the day, you’re a real man and you don’t need them to.
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