Tag: courage

When Fear Becomes The Master

I was talking with some friends earlier today about someone I know, a woman who has a lot of talent and capability, but is governed by a great deal of fear.

Because of that fear, she has continually held herself back from things she wanted to do.

That’s not to say she doesn’t have successes. She does. Yet they’ve usually come about because she was thrust into circumstances rather than her jumping in willingly.

Every time that’s happened, she has risen to the occasion and proven she can do far more than she believed she could do. Afterward, she would reflect on that fact and acknowledge she was wrong…

…only to allow fear to be her master once again.

Continue reading “When Fear Becomes The Master”

Independence, Defiance, And Being Ready To Rock

Today is Independence Day, the day we celebrate the birth of our nation. I’d had another post planned for today, but bumped it because, well, I didn’t realize that Wednesday was July 4th. It’s an important day for any true-blooded American. It needs to be addressed.

Thinking about Independence Day, I couldn’t help but think about so many of those who fought to break free of the oppression they saw coming from the British Crown. Men who stood against aggression from not just hostile natives but a malevolent government.

There’s a lot to respect there.

Now, let me get started by saying that if you start with the whole “they stole land from those natives” crap and decide to bash those men, don’t expect your comments to see the light of day. While that’s a topic that gets debated regularly, I’m not interested in debating it here. Understood?

Now, with that out of the way, let’s look at what those men were like and what we can learn from them. Continue reading “Independence, Defiance, And Being Ready To Rock”

What Is A Man?

The idea of who is and isn’t a man may well be one of the greatest challenges facing the males of the human species.  These days, real men can be anything.  A real man supposedly cries at kitten videos and is a kind, gentle soul who wouldn’t hurt a fly or something.

Photo courtesy of andriuXphoto
Photo courtesy of andriuXphoto

Oddly enough, traditionally masculine activities are often portrayed as being the purview of guys who aren’t real men but want to pretend.  Hunting, shooting, fighting, etc are all constantly being described as the playground of either those trying to overcompensate for something or as having some kind of homoerotic subtext that no one actually involved in the activity can sense.

The reality is that being a man isn’t as simple as society as a whole would have you believe. Continue reading “What Is A Man?”