This comment was by David S. Shaw in reference to the post – Interactive Quote of the Day—Strong Sense of Self
Masculinity is not a true or false question. The question is are your actions, as a man, true to your beliefs about how a good man acts.
A related question is how strongly do you take such an inventory, how strong are you in taking a close look at actions that were mindless mistakes or mindful mistakes. As a man can you stand strong to listen to feedback from other men, from other women, from children, from animals, from the Planet, on what you have done as a man, so you can keep doing it or stop, or slow down.
Do you know how to be firm in your beliefs while being soft and yielding in them as well? Strong abs. are good for taking a punch, for repressing sobs, for not laughing too loud and for heavy lifting. There are times for taking a punch and times for avoiding them, times for controlling your breath to be able to do what needs to be done when others have lost control of their fear and times to just sigh.
There are times to be able to bear more weight than any man should need to and times when it is wise to share in the lifting. There are times to “gut it out” and times to soften your belly to let go of emotional pain with sobs, with laughs, with soft belly breathing in and out. Strong abs can make the man and can break him, it all depends. Muscle bound men often suffer a great deal. Those with flexibility often fare better.
There are times to write comments in response to Interactive Quotes of the Day and times to realize that your typing fingers are strong enough and the rest of you could use more work. There are times when a man comes to realize that he is talking to himself and needs to put a final period to his comments Okay so I’m weak. There—did it.
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Brilliant, well-said, and spot-on!