"Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one." –Marcus Aurelius
Sports and athletic games have been a staple of childhood in cultures the world over. The formality differs from place to place, and we modern Americans have been known to emphasize organized sports from a very young age. Some people have criticized the extreme versions of this tendency and I see their point, but we…
Masculinity, and manliness, are two words that I hear thrown about by all sorts of people. Feminists, their opponents, and everyone in between use these words and use them differently. But there is a real meaning that is being forgotten and it’s an important distinction to make. Manliness and masculinity are not synonymous and we…
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. – 1 Corinthians 13:11 One of the parts of modern life that I find most disturbing is the gradual infantilization of adulthood. People’s life…
When I was a kid self-esteem began to be promoted in schools. A lot of adults seemed to have a problem with it, but almost nothing is more conformist to the next idea than education. It’s a part of teachers’ identity to always be doing the next thing. So it stuck. At the time, I…
I have no children, and my wife isn’t even pregnant yet. But we will start trying in 2020. And it’s interesting how this theoretical fatherhood is already having a big effect on my life. I don’t mean in terms of shopping for baby clothes. I mean in terms of my own identity and concerns. It’s…
My wife and I are ready to start our family, and I’ve been thinking a lot about raising children in modern America. Traveling through Europe has also given me cause to think about the differences. I can remember reading a news story back in the 2000s about a Danish mom in America getting in trouble…
Let’s talk insurance again – this time, life insurance. How does it work, and who should have it? Life insurance is, of course, something you get because you are betting that you will die soon (or your wife wants to make that bet…). Just kidding. It is still based on life and death. Like all…
Men are struggling in today’s world, with falling employment and education rates, and rising addiction and suicide rates. At the same time we’re being outspokenly cast as dangerous, predatory, and ‘oppressive’, which doesn’t help men find their place or confidence in their identity as men. So I fully support men’s groups that aim to help…
“We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.” Human beings are unique in being able to learn from the experience of others. We are also highly social beings unable to function without having a place in a group. We need to know who…
Today we hear terms like ‘fragile men’ and ‘toxic masculinity.’ If you are a young man you will hear those things not only out in the world, but even sometimes in school. This leads to the danger that young men will start believing that these are true descriptions of masculinity. There are a lot of…