“You’re a good man” – what matters most to a man
“You’re a good man.” are the four words I hear from my wife every time I return home after helping others. Whether it’s dropping cookies around to a neighbor, taking the kids out for a walk so my wife can nap, or helping an elderly lady with her shopping bags; those four words uttered by my wife fill me with a sense of satisfaction like no other.
I am in part the man, the husband, the father that I am because of the influence of my wife. My wife inspires me to be a good man. There, I’ve said it. My wife, who is a woman, inspires me, a man, to be a good man.
“You’re a good man” is the best compliment a woman can give a man.
We live in a society where expectations are no longer a belief that a person will merely achieve something. Rather, there is this belief that this person will achieve something greater than the expectation itself. Being called “a good man” is the ultimate expression of love and understanding.
Of course, by nature, men want to not only be better than other men, but to be the best man, himself. Some of us only reach this apex of masculinity when our best friend is married.
However, when a woman tells a man that they are “a good man”, it’s not only this exchange of words that empowers the man to become better; it’s the belief that this good man is enough for this good woman.
His best is good enough.
Too often, men are expected to either fail or to exceed beyond expectation. But what about all of those times, those daily moments, where a man is simply ‘good’? If it’s the daily moments that define us, then let us define ourselves by these very moments that matter most.
“You’re a good man”. Let us be worthy of this compliment! A good man is aware of his potential to become better, even the best man he can become. At the same time, a good man is aware that the journey of ‘being a good man’ is as important as the destination of ‘becoming the best man’.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
Unfortunately most of the time, men only hear that when we’re being rejected by the women we’re pursuing swiftly followed by can we still be friends.
I like this article as well, and I can relate to this. I appreciate hearing these words too, and I wonder if it matters most who speaks them? Mike, comment above, indicated father in law. My ex FIL never accepted my being married to my ex, so I guess that was telling.
The man I admired the most in my adult life, my father-in-law, told me I was good man. It was the absolute best compliment I was ever given and it validated everything I had been working to be my whole adult life.