What's bein' raised today ain't what I'd call men. A few pop up here and there but for the most part I see a buncha lil girls. They wax and shave everything. They whine and are afraid of a lil hard work. They refuse to get dirty. They worry 'bout lookin' pretty. They hit women. They respect no one. Whatever that is, it ain't a man.
I was raised by a man that picked cotton to help his family survive. I was raised by a man that wasn't afraid to defend himself or the people around him. He never hit a woman. He never disrespected anybody that didn't disrespect him first. He'll be 60 next year and at the moment is diggin' a ditch while I type away at a computer. Quite frankly, I'd rather be with him or doin' the work for him. He's always believed I'm better than that but has shown me that hard work is important to anything you do.
Maybe I got off lucky in life 'cause I got one helluva father and I know it. Maybe this new generation of boys ain't got anybody to show 'em how to really be a man. If that's the case, it's a damn shame.
Single mothers do a helluva a job. It's a hard situation to be in. It's hard to be a parent in a house with a mother and a father but when everythin' is ridin' on your single set of shoulders you'll know what Atlas felt like. One person to do the dishes. One person to do the laundry. One person to help the kids with their homework. One person to make enough money to feed everyone, pay all the bills, but still have enough time left over to actually raise the kids.
That's hard. There's no way that doin' all that can be made easy. And because it is so difficult the children are always gonna be lackin' somethin'. The best mother can not teach her son everything it takes to be a man anymore than the best father can teach his daughter what it takes to be a woman. The genders are always gonna have some unknown element that we don't get about each other. It's there. It's always gonna be there. It's why guys and girls get together and talk 'bout how the other doesn't make any damn sense.
"What's hard about puttin' up a damn toilet seat before you pee?"
"What's so hard about puttin' it down before you pee?"
A boy needs a man in his life to model himself after. That man ain't gotta be perfect, he's just gonna be a template. The son will figure out how to improve what's there in front of him. A father just has to live his life as a man. The son then follows the father's lead. He walks the way he walks. He talks the way he talks. He drinks what he drinks. He respects the people his father respects. The father shows the boy how to be responsible, how to take care of himself, how to take care of others, how to do things a man needs to know how to do.
A woman can tell a boy how to shave his face but she lives her life shavin' her legs. Kanye West was raised by his momma. She taught him how to be bold, creative, confident, and hard workin'. She did not teach him humility, respect, or honor. If you ask me he's a prime example of what's wrong with these boys in the world.
In my mind my father is God. I know he watches what I do and sees in his mind what I should be doin'. He's always done his best to steer me to what I should be doin'. I can't bring myself to disobey him or do anything that I feel he would disapprove of. The times that I have I am very much stricken with guilt. When I think of what God would look like or sounds like I can only think of my father. When I think of how God should judge people I think of how my father does it. He's always been reasonable and for the most part understanding. If every father is the absolute for his son, just think of how important his role is for that boy.
When a man shirks his duties in favor of doin' sumthin' fun on a regular basis, or whines instead of fixin' his problems, or puts himself ahead of others, he's not a man at all. Boys want new toys. Boys want to play and fight and be lazy all day long. Boys want their mommies to protect them from the world. Boys lie about things they don't wanna get in trouble for. Boys are mean to girls.
When a man works hard, respects those that have yet to disrespect him, and protects those around him, he is a man. Men pay their bills. Men take care of what they have. Men put their family's well being ahead of their own. Men respect all women. Men deal with their problems.
Bein' a boy is fine for a while. Sooner or later you gotta grow out of it. I don't think any man ever lets it all go away anyway. It's why we laugh at dirty jokes. It's why we don't always like doin' chores. It's why we like tools and gadgets and cars. But a man knows when to put those childish things to rest and grow up.
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