THE REAL POWER OF A MAN

Many wonderful quotes are shared with me on my blog. My favourite this year has been: THE REAL POWER OF A MAN IS IN THE SIZE OF THE SMILE OF THE WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO HIM.

My education, my work and my life have given me wonderful opportunities to talk with and work with more Men than many Women do. Even socially with my love music and in a social organization I belong to, Men are 90% of the membership.

When I think of Men therefore, I tend to have warm feelings for them. I like the fact that most are very direct and straightforward and that most are honest, trustworthy, truthful and do not hold grudges or gossip.

When I think of strength, it is not about physical prowess or brawn that I think of. As a Woman I think of strength of character, courage, bravery, fortitude, tenacity and of someone who is trustworthy and honourable.

Someone else sent me a quote attributed to ‘The Optimism Revolution’. I don’t know much about The Optimism Revolution except it sounds a great name but the quote was:

BEING MALE IS A MATTER OF BIRTH, BEING A MAN IS A MATTER OF AGE, BUT BEING A GENTLEMAN IS A MATTER OF CHOICE.

There are many jokes about the perfection of the spouse of a Widow growing with age until all those Women remember is the SUPERMAN they were married to. I get the point of the anecdote. 

I understand that the only PERFECT MAN is the one the Woman has built up in her memory and put up on a pedestal as a paragon to whom no real living, breathing person will ever compare.

While the people who tell the story about THE PERFECT MAN have a point, like much in life, it is based on truth. A person loved so much years after they are gone, must have deserved the Love he inspired. Something for other Men to consider when they try to define what in life is worth being remembered for.

I’d say being a Gentleman will eliminate many Men who long ago decided it was beyond their abilities. The MAN’S POWER and WORTH, will never be in how many toys a Man has accumulated or much of the rubbish that the media shows us, in whatever passes for the Rich and Famous these days, but, in Men who we admire because they stood for something they showed us in the quality of their character.

We know these few extraordinary Men when we see them. We hear of many, or even most of them in the History Books. Sometimes we learn about them and hear others speak of them in our own lifetimes. Occasionally they are known to live in our cities and, if we are especially lucky, our communities.

The most important Man of all is the one in our own home. He is the Man we know and admire, respect and love personally. He is the one we still love and admire after we have looked him in the eye, lived with him, and loved him. 

We know this Man well and we know he isn’t perfect, but then neither are we. We love him still long after he is no longer with us and lives on only in our memory. That is the REAL POWER OF A MAN.