Intentional Gentlemen

Masculinity has been getting a very bad rap in the last couple of years. Just a cursory google search of articles with the word "masculinity" will turn up results like this one or this one. In 2017 and 2018 (and obviously still into 2019 a bit) you couldn't hear or read the word "masculinity" without the word "toxic" in front of it. Now, some traits of masculinity, if left unchecked, can result in a toxicity that can spoil a man, but to hear it told by some, strong and aggressive masculinity is a terrible thing by its nature and should be thrown out and substituted with the more nurturing femininity. This does no favors to "good" men, and "bad" men won't hear it anyway (more on that distinction later). It isn't masculinity that is toxic. Toxicity is present in all ways of life - it is a form of selective extremism choosing only a small part of expected behavior and ignoring the balance that should exist alongside it. Str...

... and make it a worthy one. “What is true happiness? It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” -Helen Keller We don't choose for time to march forward continually. It happens with or without us. But what we do in life is up to us. If we don't choose a life of purpose, the natural entropy of the universe will spread its ever-increasing disorder into our own life. If you want order in your life, you must choose a worthy path, and make it happen. The accidental life is one of little consequence. You might obtain occasional success by accident, but the vast majority of success comes from a focused and driven effort, and any lasting success must have come as a result of intentional actions made toward that end. Now, depending on the chosen purpose, an intentional life may lead to good or to bad. Every purpose is not a good or a worthy one. So as you study your life - as well as the lives of those around you - look f...