On Being Whatever...

Let's get right down to it... shall we?

According to the website, What Christians Want to Know, 10 personality traits of Jesus have been published that this website believes we should emulate, they are:

• Compassion
• Servant
• Loving
• Forgiving
• Committed
• Prayerful
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Self-Control
• Humble

However, on another website regarding what characteristics American males should possess is the following:

• Physical
  
• Functional
  
• Sexual
  
• Emotional
  
• Intellectual
  
• Interpersonal
  
• Other
  

Ya know... and, maybe it is just me, but I have always thought the category of other was a useless as teats on a bore hog; and yet, there it is.
And, on another website, there is a list of Traits For a Real Man.

• A real man can defend himself
  
• A real man keeps his house in order
  
• A real man takes care of his appearance
  
• A real man makes his own fortune
  
• A real man strives to be a role model
  
• A real man's word is his bond
  
• A real man doesn't gossip
  
• A real man is focused
  

On a personal note, is it not amazing what one can find on the internet?

How are males supposed to find their way in life this kind of contradictory advice? Doesn't it make you want to have a sex change operation?

And, my comment would be... no, not at all...



We have spent too much time trying to figure out what advice is credible and what advice is not and whose advice to follow, when we should just simply decide for ourselves... I mean... we are men, right? And... men... don't ask for directions when they are driving... right? So, why should we men ask for directions on how to act like men?



This is rather pointlessly silly, isn't it? And yet, here we are...



I think most males follow their fathers whether they want to or realize what they are doing. For instance, my Dad did not hunt or fish so neither of those activities have ever really been of any interest to me. Additionally, my Dad did not play golf and neither did I but my brother is currently playing golf... so, this idea must not work for all males in a family.


On the other side of the coin, my father was never what you call “rich or wealthy,” and yet, my brother is... so, maybe that is why he took up this “so-called” sport called golf... it being a wealthy thing to do.



So, males take this identity confusion into schools, into colleges, into the military, into marriages, and into the workforce... expecting other males (also experiencing identity confusion) to manage them and tell them what they should do and how they should do it... while resenting that instruction and being told what to do as if they were a child and could not think for themselves... which, most of them cannot...
But, this is neither here nor there is it... because men are who they are... men... right?



No wonder all most men want is sex because that is relatively easy to understand and easy to pursue with very little instruction... but, it gives the wrong impression, does it not, of who we, as men, really are... and, for that matter, are not?



So, how should males really be?



Now, I know this is confusing for some so let me make this perfectly clear, males can be macho or they can be submissive or perhaps somewhere in between although that balance is rather difficult to maintain all the time.



I would suspect that those who are macho are involved in sport and I would relate them to the early caveman or later to the Roman Gladiator or to the Greek and/or Viking Warriors.



And, I would suspect that those who are not macho could, would, and should, be everyone else. And, the ones that try to maintain a balance between the two extremes are our actors and musicians who say what they want to say or need to say with the words that someone else has written. But, this characterization is over-simplified and there is much more to it than this? Perhaps... but, maybe there is not anymore to it than this.



What I have discovered in my 67 years of life is that very few males want to be like or live a life like Jesus lived, although many claim to be like him in many ways; the truth of the matter is that they are actually farther apart than similar.



Boy, I betcha that ruffled some feathers...



For instance:

• Very few have long hair like Jesus had
  
• Very few wear clothes like Jesus wore
  
• Very few do no work like Jesus did
  
• Very few people know the Bible like Jesus did
  
• Very few people pray like Jesus did or as often
  
• Very few traveled around the country preaching like Jesus did
  
• Very few do not marry and not have children like Jesus did
  
• Very few people are willing to live in the same land that Jesus lived in
  
• Very few people are willing to drink the same water or eat the same food as Jesus did
  
• Very few people are willing to go without sanitation like Jesus did
  
• Very few people are willing to speak the same language that Jesus spoke
  
• Very few people are willing to be as humble and submissive as Jesus was
  

And yet, all of the people say that they want to emulate Jesus... but only partially I suppose... not 100% which is true emulation.



Well, Jesus would be different, if he lived today... No, I don't think so because that would defeat the purpose if he did that.



Knowing all of this... how do you suppose we act as parents as soon as we know we are going to have a male child?

• Do we think about him becoming a ballet dancer?
  
• Do we think about him becoming an artist?
  
• Do we think about him becoming a drug addict?
  
• Do we think about him becoming a fireman or policeman?
  

No, I don't think that we any of those ideas on our minds at all... because, this is what we think about, him becoming:

• A professional football player
  
• A professional basketball player
  
• A profession baseball player
  
• A respected lawyer or doctor
  

And, we certainly do not give any consideration at all to him ever becoming like Jesus...



But, all-in-all, it was never our decision to make... it was and always will be our son's decision and our son can be whatever he wants to be... and should do that regardless of what we, as parents, think.