The new manhood

There are many things to expect from a real man. A real man should be strong and never cry. A real man should be brave enough to tackle a bull and kill it with his own hands. A real man has an uncomplicated mind. He must never show his heart. A real man must drink, swear, and fight, and God forbid a man dares to feel -- a feeling man is a pusillanimous one. That's it, real men are never weak, they fight their problems through, and go to war. Is this really what the world needs from a man? What happens to the quiet man, the man with the subtle, yet sublime gaze, that one who owns a wide heart, and can be moved to tears? And how about the man that stands up for the weak one? Is the man whose intent is directed towards love less of a man? Is he any less courageous?

In the past, courageous was the man who embarked himself in a dangerous adventure, the man who knew how to fight, the man who was not afraid of crushing another being in order to take what he wanted. A quite physical and noisy understanding of courage.

 It was in the middle of destruction, and pain that this man realized that supremacy, strength, and dominion had nothing to do with manhood. Everything which this man had created, everything what this man believed, was brought down to ashes and blood everytime he tried to prove his manhood to others. He realized that he has to face challenges which are slightly different from those of the past, the ghosts who threaten him are not the ones he thought, he is a man who knows better, a resourceful man who has had the chance of learning from the mistakes of the past. This new man is aware that there is no need for crushing anyone, he is a man with eyes wide open to a reality which no longer considers violence a way of showing his true value.   If  this is all true, if there is indeed a new man, why is it then that he is still clinging to this old and boisterous image? Why is he still trying to demonstrate his superiority?  It is as if the old man was in the way of asssimilating the new paradigm and getting ready to do housekeeping to throw away those old habits.

 It is a fact that there is a new real man on the way, a man who will not need prove his supperiority, a man who knows that courage is the ability to sacrifice himself to protect the things he believes in, not his strength to impose himself, a man that never neglects his heart, nor the heart of others. The distance that he will need to travel to get here will only depend on the old man's ability to open his eyes.