A Man

I was driving to work yesterday. The back road I was on feeds out of a high school, so it’s always crowded at 7:30 AM. It is one of those roads that goes down to one lane from two. Naturally, everyone has to get to work before you do, so people tend to be fairly aggressive about cutting into the front of the line. Not really a big deal – it happens.

About four vehicles in front of me, I saw a big Ford pickup. It was jacked up a good foot or two and had the tires to go with it. You’ve seen it, the kind of truck that was made to go in the mud, but never sees anything but pavement. Anyway, the driver pulled out of the left lane into the right lane and stopped, his hazards blinking. He got out of his truck and walked around to the front. He looked like the modern Texas version of a cowboy: short hair, jeans, John Deere baseball hat, and cowboy boots.

As I was wondering what the heck was going on, I saw something crawling across the road in front of the pickup. What I figure happened was that someone hit the creature (it looked like a gopher) and this guy stopped his truck to move it off the road.

Sure enough, he picked it up and moved it to the grass on the side of the road. As I drove by, it didn’t appear to be moving much.

It may sound silly to you, but as I drove on, I got to thinking.

That was a man.

A man stops to help a creature on the road. He isn’t worried about being late to work and, if he is late, he’ll just say, “I had to do something.” He also doesn’t care what anyone else thinks; he knows he’s doing the right thing. A man is moved by compassion and acts accordingly.

If you look around, you can see these guys all over. They go to work every day and do a good job. They hold the door open for the person behind them. They let the other person go first. They get frustrated and try not to show it. They stop to help people on the side of the road. All of these small acts make up a man.

I realize I am generalizing. Not all males are men. Some men use their strength and authority to rule and dominate. But the vast majority do not. The other problem is that so many males do not know how to be men. It is not for lack of trying, it just seems to be hard to find people who know what a real man looks like. The media mostly portrays strong men as people who use their strength to hurt others. The irony is that a strong man uses his energy and power to help, not to harm.

I’m sorry if this sounds like a hokey beer commercial and I don’t really have a deep thought to offer. I’m just glad there are still men out there, that’s all.