The Power of The P

History, society, media and our community has fooled most men into embracing a false sense of manhood. Without legitimate role models, fathers and/or father-figures, men are forced to learn the essence of manhood from absent fathers, criminal uncles, womanizing athletes and rappers, hustling older brothers, leeching cousins and similarly misinformed friends. And even without cold hard facts or statistics, I would even go as far as to say that there is a very small number of men who were fortunate enough to, not only, grow up with their father but also to have respect and look up to him enough to have learned viable morals and values. See, women (in general) won’t find it as hard to define their role, even when bad advice is given, because women are communicators. Women can talk and talk and talk about nothing and everything for hours as a way to make sense of themselves and their life. We find comfort in communication. Men, on the other hand, learn mainly by actions. Therefore, their basis and foundation for knowledge is generally formed through observation and example. Meaning, the father that left, or abused or cheated on your mother every chance he could has played a huge role in shaping your interpretation of manhood. Similarly, if your father was present, a provider, a hard-worker and treated your mother and those around him with respect, you would have been blessed with a foundation of gentlemanhood. Please believe me when I say that identifying your foundation – your DNA, your childhood, your experiences, your memories, your observations – will help you to understand your perspective on love, relationships, parenthood and marriage. Then, once you have recognized the effects of your past on your present, you will be able to determine who you are today – a man (by nature) or a gentleman (by character) – and decide whether you have arrived or whether you need to revolutionize.