What it Means to be a Man

Lately, there's been a rash of millionaires getting caught cheating. Tiger Woods has slept with 43% of America's blonde population and David Boreanaz is sharing Tiger's women. The media is having a field day with it, condemning the men and largely ignoring the women. A lot of guys have been complaining about this supposed unfair treatment. I mean, come on we men are programmed by nature to spread our seed, to choose the primo mate; it's in our DNA! Monogamy is virtually non-existent in nature. It's all part of being a man, we rule the world but have a huge weakness for a willing female.

We can't blame them, these women knew who they were getting involved with. They knew they were married, but they slept with 'em anyways. Everyone's pointing their fingers at Tiger; what about the women? If the women hadn't thrown themselves at Tiger and David Boreanaz, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to cheat, right?

Well maybe so, however, being a man has to do with more than just your hormones. A man doesn't just give in to whatever base instinct strikes us. Being a man means you do what is right even when it's tough. Take Tiger, for example. He's married, to a Swedish bikini model nonetheless. He's on the road, he gets lonely, some golf groupie (do those exist?) comes up and flashes some skin. Quick, what should he do? If you said his only option is to go ahead and have sex with her, you're wrong. You made a vow to your wife and that doesn't dissolve just because you've found another option. The right option is to stand by your wife, even if your buddy's gonna call you a loser for the next couple weeks.

It doesn't matter what your buddy thinks. He'll be the one paying for a divorce because he went after that pretty young thing that said she would love him forever. Now he's broke and she doesn't want him anymore. He'll be the one with the gnawing emptiness from knowing that he threw his life away for a moment and that moment passed.

As a man, you stand by your word. You have a set of a morals and you live by them. This applies to all areas of your life. From your marriage to how you conduct business. With the current mortgage "crisis", a new question is being asked: When is it ok to walk away from your mortgage? Shockingly, the answer to that question is becoming yes more and more frequently. People who decide it's better to skip a few mortgage payments than to live within their means. More men are choosing not to work and not to provide for their families. What happened to the man of the house? He used to work and provide for a roof over their heads, food on the table, and ethics for the children. Now just as often as not, he sits at home, beer in hand while his wife struggles to make ends meet. Through this, he still expects her to respect him as the head of the house when he's relinquished that role in favor of a cold beer.

We need a revival. A revival in manhood. I'm not advocating turning everyone into a bunch burly he-men, but I would like to see us striving for greatness again. The world is going to crap and it's our fault. We no longer show respect to anyone else, and so neither do our kids. We don't follow through on our promises, our commitments, or our word. Look at the kids of today. Our sons are all wannabe thugs and our daughters look like prostitutes. Boys haven't had a good solid male role model in their lives so they're left emulating their favorite rapper or movie star. You look at what they promote on TV and in music and it's all about being tough and nailing as many chicks as you can. Step up to the plate and be the example your kids need.

On a side note: Anyone else find it funny that Big Ben's Beef Jerky has been pulled from the shelves seeing as to how Big Ben's beef has been causing problems...

Save the drama for yo mama

So, at work, I'm surrounded by drama. Grown men creating drama, scheming and backstabbing like a bunch of teenage girls in "Mean Girls". Seriously. One of them has a problem with me and has brought another one in against me. They've been scheming since about 6 months after I got there. They've contaminated our leadership with negatively skewed reports. Now I'm on a performance improvement plan which I'd imagine could mean my firing if I don't meet their standards. However, these two are still scheming to put together a file that justifies my firing.

Jackasses piss me off. Why do they feel the need to screw with people? I do my job well, but I'm not perfect. None of us are. However, when I make a mistake, it's noted and supposedly a firable offense. For the past year and a half, I've been told at every review, "We have documented enough to fire you over, but we're not gonna right now." If you want me gone, then fire me, but you're not gonna convince me to quit.

The fear of "Organized Religion"

First off, maybe it's just me but it sounds like the Mafia or something. Give your offering or we'll bus' your knee caps, right? When did organized religion become a dirty word? How did this happen? Used to be the church was the place people could go for support, help, or in a time of need. Now people look to the government to supply their every need and Christians have slacked off on their charity. Christians have become timid and the ones who do speak up do so arrogantly and sel-righteously, while failing to live up to their own standards. This is why Christianity is viewed with such disdain.

Too many are willing to yell on a street corner about how homosexuals are evil and an abomination, none of them are willing to love the people they claim to be trying to save. Do I believe homosexuality is ok? No. I believe the Bible speaks strongly against it. Do I believe I'm better off than a gay person is? Nope. Sin is sin. The Bible calls homosexuality a sin. It also calls premarital sex a sin. Looking lustfully at a woman who isn't your wife is a sin. Envying your neighbor's new truck is a sin. So on and so on. If you are guilty of one part of the law, you are guilty of the entirety of the law. What does this mean? All of those preachers coming down and spouting hate towards homosexuals aren't following the Lord.

Think back on the past few years. How many Christian leaders have been found in some sort of sexual impropriety? Far too many if you ask me. These are the same guys who will stand behind a pulpit in front of 10,000 people and condemn anyone doing the same things he does in secret. And we wonder why the world thinks we're all hypocrites. And speaking of these megachurches, how does it look to see the pastor of one of these churches wearing a $1000 suit and driving home afterwards in his $80,000 Lexus sedan? That question is directed to any of you out there reading this (I got to have at least one, right?). To me it looks like the pastor is paying himself a wee bit too much out of the congregation's tithes. I have no problem with wealth, but in my opinion when a pastor is living such an ostentatious life, it sends the wrong message. These pastors usually belong to a church where he preaches the health and wealth doctrine. Choose God and everything will be fine. Life will be easy. You'll not find this anywhere in the Bible, in fact you are guaranteed that you will have troubles and trials as a result of choosing God. How should the pastor live? Look to Chuck Smith as an example of a guy who lives, for the most part, above reproach. He is the founder of Calvary Chapel. He likely could've taken the same liberty but he drives a 10 yr old Mercury Grand Marquis.

The new movement in the world is to decry organized religion. You even find it amongst Christians. The "I don't need to go to church, I can worship anywhere I want people". Yeah, it's true, you can worship anywhere, but the Bible specifically says not to forsake the gathering together of the saints. Some of these people will say they don't go because of other Christians, but then what about Heaven? That's what Heaven is, full of Christians. Atheists will jump in on it because of a bad experience as a kid, or an irritating friend, or whatever. My response to that? If you truly want to take a fair look at things, go after it how the Bible says and follow God, not man. If your eyes are on mankind, you'll be disappointed time and time again. Keep your eyes on God and He'll never let you down.

First blog

Greetings, this is my first blog. Let me introduce myself for those who may have inadvertently stumbled across this here. I intend to use this space as a place to put my thoughts, adventures, ideas, dreams, goals, and things that tick me off. We'll be covering topics from my Jeep, family, work, God, and people.

Not everything will quite fit the paranoid section, but I like the sound and that's usually what makes me sit down and write. I'll try to keep this a daily thing, but we'll see.

So, onto my first blog:

I live in a house out in the desert. There's a small town nearby, literally 8 miles from my house, but it's a small town and it pretty much just stops. So while I can order a pizza and drive down to the shop before it's done, they still won't deliver because we're in an unincorporated area. We have 5 acres of land, but when we bought the house it wasn't surveyed. Our realtor gave us a map of the property but it was vague, doesn't show us anything about where our property actually is. We know, or are pretty sure, that it extends back into a wash behind the house. On random nights, people like to come racing down our wash in buggies, on quads, etc. I could care less about people enjoying the desert, I do so on a regular basis, but seriously at 11pm? Come on, at least have the courtesy to run friggin mufflers on your buggy or rompin V8 wannabe Trophy truck, alright? Sometimes it's all I can do not to jump in my Jeep and chase you down.

And please, when you see me on the street, remember that your Super Duty with 42" Swampers will not stop as well as it did stock, which wouldn't stop as well as my wife's minivan will. So, keep your distance, you never know when something will necessitate a fast stop. And for you wanna be SCORE desert racers, the highway is not your personal race course, and again, your Ranger with its nose scornfully turned up at the rest of us, butt dragging in the dirt will not handle rapid changes of direction like your average car will.

That's all for tonight. I'm tired and done. More tomorrow maybe.