Not Classy

Yes, the title of this post is intended to be a pun.  

What was this guy thinking?

No virtue, especially no temperance.  Poor judgment.  Anything to get a little porn in the classroom.  And what about the black mail here?  $150 for extra credit?  What’s up with that?

For the record, LaSalle University is not on the Newman Guide for Catholic colleges that are faithful to a Catholic identity and faithful to the Magisterium.

TrueMan up!

A Review: Cultural Manliness

I haven’t written about cultural manliness in a while, so I thought I’d review it.  Cultural manliness, for those unfamiliar with the term (which I coined a few years ago) is the idea that “the more power, money, sex and stuff a male has, the more manly he is.”  This idea is propagated in our culture virtually non-stop, whether on the television, on the internet, in movies, throughout magazines and newspapers, on billboards, in songs, in advertising and just about anywhere those areas don’t cover.  The idea is propagated for a few reasons: 1. men buy into this lie.  2. women buy into this lie.  3. children buy into this lie.  4. people make money off of this lie.  5. the devil wins souls through this lie.

Cultural manliness – being in pursuit of the things of this world – will kill a man.  Power, money, sex and stuff doesn’t win our salvation, but it certainly can keep us from it.  Cultural manliness easily gets in the way of a relationship with Christ.  Why does this matter?  Because Christ is the true example of manliness!  He is THE TrueMan.  He is the reason this site exists.  He is the reason why the site is called what it is called.  ”Blessed be Jesus Christ, True God and TrueMan.”  Anything other than pursuing Christ is futile and unmanly.

The world wants to tell a man that he will be ‘happy’ if he has more power, more sex, more money and more stuff.  This things, in and of themselves are not bad, but they don’t bring happiness.  They may bring emotional counterfeits that men believe to be happiness, but they aren’t happiness.

What then makes a man, if it’s not power, money, sex and stuff?  Virtue!  Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance – Faith, Hope and Love.  Learn them, live them, be a TrueMan!  (Read the “TrueManhood Guide to Virtue” here.)

If you’d like to read more on the topic, do a search (in the white box on the upper right portion of each page of this site) for “cultural manliness”.  You’ll have plenty of reading material.  Or, go to the blog page and click the “cultural manliness” tab.  I’d like to know your thoughts on this topic – leave a comment.

TrueMan up!

Porn Proves Deadly

As if our human reason wasn’t enough to tell us that pornography has deadly effects, here’s a story that surely will.

Picture this… An Ohio truck driver was barreling down the highway in upstate New York.  The driver, at this point sleep-deprived, is distracted.  “What is distracting him?” you ask.  The answer: Porn, being streamed on his laptop.  The driver’s rig hit a disabled car on a New York State highway.  The truck driver, a one Thomas Wallace, has been sentenced to three-to-nine years in prison for killing the driver, Julie Stratton, a 33-year-old mother of two.  Stratton’s vehicle was disabled because she had hit a deer and was waiting for assistance in the passing lane shoulder.

Wallace pleaded guilty in May to second-degree manslaughter. Authorities say he’d slept no more than four of the 27 hours before the Dec. 12, 2010 crash that killed Stratton.  The trucker tearfully apologized to the victim’s family at Wednesday’s sentencing.  Sorry bro, your apology isn’t enough.  Your apology doesn’t bring back a woman, a wife, a mother.

I was tempted to include a picture I came across that had “Fatal Accident” spelled out on top, with a graphic of an ambulance, the road and broken glass.  However, I didn’t.  This was no accident.  An accident is when a bird poops on our head, or when we bump into someone walking around a corner.  Wallace should have taken responsibility for his (extremely selfish) actions and disregard for humanity.  “You can stuff your sorrys in a sack, mister.”

Let’s get one thing straight here – pornography kills.  Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.  Most of the men, women and children that view pornography every day won’t end up being in a situation like Wallace, unfortunately, some might.  However, THEY ARE ALL in danger of killing their souls, their relationships, their ability to love, their ability to give, their ability to reason properly.  Pornography kills.

Aristotle once said:  ”the angry man listens to reason, though not perfectly, but the lustful man does not listen to reason at all.”

TrueMan up!

No, Ken Doll DOESN’T Make Metrosexual Cool

Maybe you’ve heard this… some people think that Ken (from Toy Story 3) makes being ‘metrosexual’ cool.  Ummm… well… no.  Being metrosexual isn’t cool.  More importantly, being metrosexual isn’t virtuous, so therefore, it’s not manly.

What is metrosexual?  From my research, there’s not one widely-agreed-upon definition.  Personally, I think Wikipedia actually got it right for once… “Metrosexual… a man who has a strong concern for his appearance or a lifestyle that displays attributes stereotypically associated with homosexual men, although he is not homosexual.”  Manicures, pedicures, facials, ridiculous hair treatments, eyebrow plucking, spray-on tanner, gossip magazines/sites… ugh.  Short-tempered.  Shallow and selfish – “Solid ride. Solid physique. Solid hair.  Solid.”

Please note, there is a drastic difference between being a metrosexual and a gentleman.  A gentleman is concerned with his appearance, but not overly concerned with it and never in a self-centered or conceited way.  A gentleman is prudent in his decisions, temperate in his actions, courageous in all things and seeks justice for all.  A gentleman lives an ordered life, not the disordered life of a metrosexual.  A gentleman is authentically masculine while a metrosexual is effeminate.  A gentleman praises others, while a metrosexual seeks praise as an end, in and of itself.  A gentleman always respects a woman and fights to defend her.  Sometimes, women are falsely drawn towards metrosexual men, often times because metros are more tender and understanding (all emotional)… see how Barbie feels about Ken initially in the video below.  These women typically end up hurt and alone because those characteristics wear off eventually, leaving the woman in pain and alone.

Back to Ken… the dolldude obviously has issues… attachment to worldly possessions, personal appearance and a desire for shallow and empty “swagger”.  ”A whole room, just for trying on clothes.”  Come on, Ken.

TrueMan up!

He Lost It

Maybe you saw this video from about 10 days ago.  It’s video of a minor league hockey coach who goes ballistic on the referee about a bad call against one of his players.  The coach is Jim Playfair, which is sort of ironic, considering.  Be sure to watch the folks in the stands, as well as the players to the coach’s left laughing at him.  Take a look.

If you can’t view the video, click HERE.

What’s amazing is that in our culture, this sort of behavior is glorified.  Although collectively, we think things such as “what a crazy man” or “that guy’s goin’ nuts”, we watch it and continually let it happen.  This particular video has been viewed over 555,000 times, and is merely one version of the incident.  The fact that this coach lost his cool like this shows that he’s not virtuous in the area of prudence, temperance or justice.  (A TrueMan is virtuous.)  I wonder what would happen at my office if someone acted this way.

I watched a few videos discussing this outburst, and one that caught my attention was a radio personality that said, something to the effect of, “this is a coach expressing emotion.  He’s defending his player, showing some emotion.  I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”  In fact, the radio guy went on to call it “great”, that this coach did what he did.  Well, Mr. Smart-Radio-Personality-Guy, a TrueMan controls his emotions and doesn’t lash out like Mr. Playfair.  This was not great.

TrueMan Up!

TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue

Click for TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue

LEARN VIRTUE, LIVE VIRTUE!

Man up!

What Does it Mean to Be Manly?

I came across a few videos today on YouTube that were a bit frustrating to watch.  I’m not posting them here because 1. they are frustrating 2. they are inappropriate for my site and 3. I don’t want to promote the males that made these videos.  What I found in these videos was a misconstrued image of manliness, but not in the normal sense (aka – “cultural manliness”, as I refer to it –> money, power, women, stuff…) but in a sense of bashing overly manly activities, ideas, thoughts and practices.  Taking it to the other extreme; calling men to be more feminine.  Yuck.

Let me make it clear to the readers of this blog what I mean when I say words like MANLY, MANLINESS, TRUEMAN, TRUEMANHOOD, etc.  In essence, I mean virtue.  In none of the three videos that sparked this post did they ever mention anything about virtue.  It might get old hearing about virtue, and yes, I write about it frequently, but virtue = manliness.  TrueManliness.  Plain and simple.

Others can blog/vlog about whatever they want, but when it comes to talking about manliness, they aren’t my compass.  My compass points are Christ and St. Joseph, combined with other saints and men who are alive (both literally and figuratively) in the faith.  These men live(d) out “the greatest of these” – Love.  Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, Faith, Hope and Love.  Live them.

If you would like a copy of some virtue materials, contact TrueManhood.com at proveritasspeakers@gmail.com. 

Man up!

7 Days of Virtue; Day 4 – Temperance

Think of virtues like your muscles.  You work your muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed.  Virtue is the same way.  You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.

Day 4 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 4 – TEMPERANCE.

Temperance moderates our attraction to pleasure.  This can be any form of pleasure… physical, emotional, sexual, mental, spiritual, etc.  There is an opposing vice that we should stay away from… insensibility (the complete rejection of any pleasure).  Pleasure, in and of itself, is not bad, as long as it is ordered and moderated.  There are three major vices that go along with temperance that we all deal with, in one way or another; it is NOT manly to indulge in these sins!

1. Gluttony – inordinate consumption of food and/or drink.  If they need a fork lift to come get you from the booth to your car, you ate too much.  We are incredibly guilty of this in America with our portion sizes.  A way to fight gluttony is by fasting.
2. Drunkenness – hinders our reason.  Drinking to excess means that we are willingly depriving ourselves of our reason (St. Thomas Aquinas).  A HUGE problem in our culture.  Men, drunkenness is not manly.  Being able to stop after 1 or 2 drinks is manly and it doesn’t just mean you do this when you are driving.  This is at home, at a party, with a DD, where ever.  Losing all ability to think, function, act and control yourself is cowardly.  Be a man, put the drink down.
3. Lust – is destructive and causes harm.  Sex, like fire, is a good thing  – in context.  If a fire gets out of control, it destroys.  If it is used how it is intended, it gives off warmth and can be used to cook.  Sex is the same way… if we make the choice to be chaste, we are ordering our sexuality in the way that God intended.  Don’t be fooled by society, lust is destructive.  Everyone’s NOT doing it – there are those of use who strive for it who are living chaste lives, even in our marriages.  St. Thomas Aquinas said: “A man who gives into his lust has weaknesses.  From this weakness means that he will give into his passions.  He is not free to love.”  Are you weak?  Be virtuous, control your sexuality, don’t let it control you.

Temperance guides us so that we do not fall into these sins.  Being temperate means that we know when enough is enough, too much or sinful.

Man up!

A TrueMan is Virtuous – the start to a 7 day look at Virtue

***My apologies for the delay in posting over the past few days, I was on retreat all weekend and away from technology.***

Virtue (in Latin: virtus) means manliness.  In order to truly be manly, we must possess virtue.  Virtue means having the “firm and habitual disposition to do the good”.  If a man possesses the virtue of Courage, that means that he’s courageous 1. with joy 2. with ease 3. promptly and 4. consistently.  Every time, without fail.  In order for a man to gain virtue, he must practice.  He must also ask for God’s grace to help him acquire virtue.  (Note: women can attain virtue as well, and it doesn’t mean that they become manly.)

I’m kicking off a 7 day look at virtue, starting tomorrow.  I’ll dive into each of the 4 Cardinal Virtues and each of the 3 Theological Virtues, one each day.  Prudence, Justice, Fortitude & Temperance and Faith, Hope & Love.  If you want to be a TrueMan, become a virtuous man.

Man up!