Shootin' it Straight- What it Means to Be a Man (Free Access)

Somewhere between an ego-driven rapper pouring champagne over a stripper in a video and a man sitting atop a bar stool, hitting on girls young enough to be his daughter, we have lost sight of what it means to be a man. Park your Cadillac, untangle the gold chain from your chest hair, and button your shirt up, hoss. Being a "real man" used to be more important than having a plaque adorning your office wall or being wealthy enough to roll your smokes in Benjamin Franklins. Through the lens of my mind, a man should look like John Wayne, drive a flatbed truck, and have a chew of tobacco in his jaw that could be mistaken for a baseball.
The truth is, there isn’t a prototype or a mold that men are cut from, but if there were, it is either broken or badly worn. I run into so many so-called men who would turn the stomachs of their grandfathers. A man should have certain qualities. The first characteristic should be being manly. Manly doesn’t mean you have to be a full-blown mountain man. You may push pencils behind a desk all day, but don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Every self-respecting man should be able to handle a gun with enough skill to protect his family and himself.
Another essential quality is leadership. You may not lead a battalion of troops or be the president of a company, but you must be the head of your home. Being the head of the home means more than sitting on the couch every afternoon while the family does their own thing. A man self-sacrifices for his family and makes sure he sets an example for his spouse and children. A man doesn’t need to dominate or beat his wife to prove his masculinity. Opening doors, and being respectful, polite, and a gentleman doesn’t lower your manhood but rather emboldens it.

I, for one, have long since grown tired of deadbeat dads, loser husbands, and men scared of getting their Crocs dirty while claiming to be real men. I'm tired of seeing a car roll into Walmart with a mom and four children in the back—a Romeo was gracious enough to produce them but not man enough to stick around and raise them. We need men, real men, and we need them pronto.