The Long Way Up

A father plays a major role in the lives of his children. An understatement? An overstatement? Well, whichever your preference, it's a true statement; one that has been poorly heeded, greatly ignored, or severely missed out. Anyone can biologically sire a child -- we got a lot of that going on these days; but to be a father in every sense of the word is, for sure, such a tall order, which is why many men -- for several varying and valid reasons -- opt out of their responsibilities. One such responsibility inherent to the paternal role is the privilege of representing the Heavenly Father to his children. This wouldn't be much of a stretch if men, to begin with, had an existing relationship with their Father in Heaven growing up, and have spent their season of singleness practicing being God-conscious in whatever form of relationship they had with other people. But sadly, that isn't the case most of the time. So, whatever a man learns during his bachelorhood he usually carrie...

Labels are fables that do not define Swagger and daggers, not fancies of mine Bludgeoned in dungeons, mistook for a swine All just because I was born as a guy "Swinger!" A ringer for my gender's sake Players and haters rub off their mistakes "Single, go mingle!" "Your smile must be fake." "It's 'cause you're a man!" Please give me a break! Tempests, the tempted go out on the prowl Hunting the hunted -- the damsels -- like fowl Using, abusing their strength with a scowl And I, a guy... should I throw in the towel? Handsome and then some: he must be a cad Silent and private: intentions are bad Friendly: he's deadly in deception clad This man wasn't raised that way by his dad! Yet truly and duly brothers have erred Eons of peons, and casual words Painted and tainted the masculine herd I am just a guy enlightened and stirred Paltry,...

(... continued ) As a full-fledged, life-long member of the XY -chromosome-carrying half of the Earth's population, I have come to understand why males exists and what we are on this planet for. Congruently, I have also seen man's place in the grand scheme of things -- in relation to the opposite sex and to society as a whole. Appreciation and love for being created a man has developed over the years, whereas in the past, resistance and avoidance were my prevailing attitude toward it.  There are a lot of aspects about being a male that I have grown quite fond of and found useful in life. Being laid back Generally speaking, men are not at all fussy about... everything! We're basically wash-and-wear, finger-comb-our-hair, give-very-little-care-about-the-outfits-we-wear kind of creatures. That's just inherent in our makeup. Us guys can use the same pair of jeans for days, even weeks on end and not really mind it. I love the fact that we can have just a few...

"It's a man's world!" If I said that aloud in a thickly crowded place, with people coming from different cultural, political, socio-economic and religious backgrounds, a very heated, wildly-animated, and strongly-worded debate would most probably break out amongst the men and women present. After all, the "battle of the sexes" has always been an age-old, hot-button topic that people from both genders (biological, not political ones) have vigorously fought and persistently tried to win. Or... Is there even a battle in the first place? Should there be a battle at all? Men and women have been created differently and imbued with gender-specific abilities, instincts and inclinations that, on their own, are unique and define their particular maleness or femaleness. However, when these unique traits and characteristics are combined with each other in the union and cooperation between the sexes, something entirely new is created, something tha...