Where Are The Men? by Scipio

That’s what the junior communications major at the University of Southern California penned as the title to her essay for her social issues class.  Where are the men?  The young coed was having trouble finding, “men”.  She had dated lots of males, but where were the men?  Her relationships were entertaining, healthy, had a future, but something was missing in all them over the years.  Something was missing and it became obvious what it was.  These men were not men, they were males.  They were born male but they had done nothing to take the steps in transforming themselves into men.  Leaders are made and so are men.  You have to make yourself a man. You are not born a man.  It is a process, sometimes leisurely, sometimes in the fire.  It takes time.  It takes work.  It takes overcoming self-doubt and fear of others and fear of failure.  It means sticking your neck out.  It means sometimes being misunderstood.  It means having pure motives in all you do.

Manhood is not just being macho, or physical strength, or daring, or achievement.  Manhood involves those things, but they are mere exterior expressions.  Being a man is something you know internally.  Others can see it in you.  You can look into the eyes of other males and tell if they are also men.  Men have integrity, men watch out for others, men care about all people, men do the right thing even if it hurts, men will stand against a crowd if the crowd is wrong, men will be loyal to their tribe, their friends, their family, and their neighbors. Men give their word and stand by their word, and men cry – ask Chris Stapleton.

In “The Masculinity Gap” an article published Nov 6, 2021; Noah Carl says that manly characteristics is a turn off for most liberals but positive in the minds of conservatives.  Regardless of which group favors or disfavors masculinity the most, masculinity in America is on the decline.  The Department of Defense recently stated that 70% of military age Americans are not fit physically or mentally for military service mainly for the lack of men, not males.  Throw in gender BS and other social agendas and lowering physical and mental standards for military service, the US is quickly reducing its military capabilities relative to her enemies.

Becoming a man is similar to becoming a leader, you have to be taught.  In addition to the requisite inner and exterior skills, young males need to be told when they have crossed that threshold into manhood.  Many cultures make this a practice.  Native Americans did it.  Jewish tradition recognizes it formally.  A 2014 movie, “Big Game” staring Samuel L Jackson is an excellent example of putting a young male into a situation to bring the man out of him.

One of my heroes has been General Douglas MacArthur. When he found out he was going to have a son, he penned a prayer called “Build Me a Son, O Lord”.  The prayer is really a definition of what manhood is about.  I have four sons, and when each of them had achieved manhood in my eyes, I would take the four of them out to lunch and present them with a gold framed plaque with the “Build Me a Son” prayer.  I would read the prayer out loud to them all, and one by one as they reached manhood. I publicly, in front of their siblings, conferred upon them my recognition of what they already knew within themselves.

While in college one of my sons baby-sat for Tom, one of the leaders of his church who had been an offensive lineman for the USC Trojans in their glory years.  As you would expect he was large.  He related a story to my son that encapsulated when man to man talk is essential.  Men need to speak into other men’s lives. Here is the story.  The church leader had put on a lot of weight since college and was well north of 300 lbs.  One night he asked his wife for a third plate of lasagna.  His wife had been trying to get him to lose weight but, though well-intentioned, Tom couldn’t stop eating.  On this particular night when he asked for more food, his wife reminded him he didn’t need more.  He blew off his wife, but Tommy Jr, his six-year-old son, said, “Yeah dad, mom’s right, you are eating too much.”  At that point, Tom pushed his plate away from himself and said he didn’t want more.  His wife said, “Tom, I have been trying to get you to do that for months, and little Tommy Jr says it just once and you listen to him.”  Without missing a beat Tommy Jr said, “Well, mom, I guess dad needed to hear it from another man!”

Men need to speak to men. It is the ultimate buddy check.  You are reminding each other who they are in case they have forgotten or have let it slip.  It can slip easily in the culture we live in today. There are few wholesome models of manhood today, and often the ones that are modeled are not manly at all.

Regarding that University of Southern California coed and her paper, I mentioned at the beginning of that article, that was my youngest daughter. We spent lots of telephone time and face time with her often in tears asking me why she couldn’t find a man. On September 3rd of this year, in Lecce Italy, I gave her hand in marriage to the man she had been looking for all her life. He is a Italian naval aircraft carrier fighter pilot for the Italian Navy.  As I reached to put my daughter’s hand in his at the altar, he first reached out to me, shook my hand, looked me strait in the eye, and said, “Scipio, I will take care of her.” After the ceremony, I gave my father-daughter speech to the collection of attendees. I pointed out in my talk that there were many males in the world but not many men.  Looking at my new son-in-law, I said, “Alberto, you are a man”.  This was a military wedding attended by his entire fighter wing and commanding officers. His fellow pilots, dressed in their dress whites and long side swords, erupted in cheers when I said this. The rest of the guests and families joined in as well.  This type of recognition of manhood needs to be spoken more often.

Here is General Douglas MacArthur’s prayer that I gave all my sons.

Build Me a Son, O Lord

“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.  Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge.  Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.  Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’”

General Douglas MacArthur

 

Spread the love
        3       
3
Shares

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the Author: Patriotman

Patriotman currently ekes out a survivalist lifestyle in a suburban northeastern state as best as he can. He has varied experience in political science, public policy, biological sciences, and higher education. Proudly Catholic and an Eagle Scout, he has no military experience and thus offers a relatable perspective for the average suburban prepper who is preparing for troubled times on the horizon with less than ideal teams and in less than ideal locations. Brushbeater Store Page: http://bit.ly/BrushbeaterStore

19 Comments

  1. Centurion_Cornelius January 20, 2022 at 05:13

    Great post! Many thanks.

    Let this all sink in, Gentlemen. Do yourself, your Family, and your Nation a favor today:

    Do one small act affirming manhood.

    PS
    Loved the tale about the 3rd dish of pasta.

    PPS
    Loved the marriage ceremony tale: back to basics!

  2. Blackie Sherman January 20, 2022 at 05:25

    Great story. Sincere best wishes to the couple!

    Heres another man:

    https://twitter.com/GraduatedBen/status/1483956234248015873?s=20

  3. Madman_Actual January 20, 2022 at 06:13

    That deserves a raised drink and solid Huzzah!

  4. rto-jerry January 20, 2022 at 06:33

    “70% of military age Americans are not fit physically or mentally for military service” I have no words for such a quote. The stat is unbelievable statistic to comprehend just how soft the country has been social engineered into pussies!!

  5. MissileFarmer January 20, 2022 at 06:35

    Excellent…

  6. VAdeputy January 20, 2022 at 06:46

    That was damn good. Trying to raise my own son like that. Thanks for the post.

  7. Mas Casa January 20, 2022 at 07:42

    Amen.

  8. Milo Mindbender January 20, 2022 at 09:24

    Wish I had had that blueprint when raising my son’s, it might have been a little less scary, just one minor issue. Asking the Lord to build your son might not be the best, you should build your children, with the Lord’s guidance as the plans just like using blueprints to build your house, but live to turn it into a home 🏡🏡

  9. Causeforalarm January 20, 2022 at 09:52

    That was absolutely beautiful!

  10. plankmember January 20, 2022 at 10:21

    Excellent, I have been too run down , fetching and catching, to write about the concerted effort to demean Rights of Passage.and No Ones Reading the Old Books…, Thanks for the effort !

  11. Ralph+k January 20, 2022 at 11:43

    If…

    If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
    If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
    Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

    If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;
    If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
    Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

    If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
    And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
    If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
    And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

    If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
    If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
    If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
    Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

    Rudyard Kipling

  12. The Old Freedom Fighter January 20, 2022 at 11:50

    Great article. I vaguely remember General MacArthur’s prayer being recited at his funeral back in 1964. Once again, I really like the above photo. Thanks for the encore.

  13. Shinmen Takezo January 20, 2022 at 14:05

    There are no men because you let them play video games all night long, you take them to Disneyland for vacations, you let them play soccer and other girly sports and distractions, you let them watch television where males are depicted as stupid and incompetents, you let them go to public schools where their minds are corrupted and brainwashed by communist teachers–and especially you let them be indoctrinated into this modern day version rot of ‘Christianity’ where you are taught to turn the other cheeks, obey Roman’s 13, learn to be civil, humble, peaceful and so forth. And most importantly–taught that there will be some sorta’ supernatural remedy soon coming–which of course never comes… thus mollifying their minds into inaction.

    If homsexuals and lesbians and communists paraded in the streets during the days of our founding fathers–what would have they done back then? I can think of public whippings leading to tar and featherings at a minimum. If a teacher back in those days taught children to be transexuals–what would the community have done? What if an abortions clinic had opened up in downtown Boston in 1775? What would be the response of the ‘real men’ back then?

    Think about all of the above for a while please.

    • Buck January 20, 2022 at 20:27

      Valid points. Let me tell you about the Lord I worship. I know he will take a drink. He turned water into wine. Not for the sake of their stomachs, but to get ripped. Wedding party. He will only put up with so much. He got mad once and wove a whip to beat the money lenders out of the temple. When he knew he was about to be taken away to die, he knew his friends would be on their own. He told them to sell their coats to buy swords. Quite a man.

  14. Artimus the Shirk January 20, 2022 at 16:38

    I was going to drop Kipling’s “If” but another man has beaten me to the draw. Great minds…

  15. Rob157 January 20, 2022 at 18:53

    Where are the MEN? Thank the “greatest generation”, the WW2 generation for allowing the takeover from within of every institution in America, and all of Western Civilization, by those who openly stated they were going to destroy it. Then, those same people sat around wondering why America was tanking. They said nothing as marxtards and their owners took over the universities, they said nothing as “3rd wave feminism” was pumped into their daughter’s heads, they said nothing as the TV’s they sat in front of pumped decades of vomit into people’s souls, they said nothing as boys were being punished for being boys.

    Where are all the MEN? Sorry, Western Civilization, your “good war” ensured that MEN would be slowly strangled, and have their minds and souls crushed by the poison of parasites. That’s why we are in this jam today.

  16. Nunya January 20, 2022 at 19:16

    Great post! I’ve shared that same poem with my two sons. Both have gone on to exemplify the prayer.

  17. sonofnunn24 January 21, 2022 at 08:02

    Proudly Catholic??? Pride is a sin, isn’t it?

    • Patriotman January 21, 2022 at 09:02

      My brain cells hurt just reading this.

      **Ignores the great advice in the article and makes conscious decision not to add any value whatsoever to the discussion**
      **Attempts to shittily dunk on my author bio**

      Go back to your milling machine in Indianapolis, think about the article, and come back with something that is actually useful.

Comments are closed.

GUNS N GEAR

Categories

Archives

Spread the love
        3       
3
Shares