Manly Men

In Eric’s post on manly men he did bring up the question (in my mind) of “what does it mean to be a man?” Some situations are easy to decide, like:
Shall we watch The Magnificent Seven or Wuthering Heights?
Should I teach my son how to change a tire or how to call triple A?
If your daughter brings home a new boy friend should you tell him, (A), in the service I learned 12 ways to break a man’s back and I still remember seven of them or (B), hey I remember what it feels like to be young here are some fresh rubbers. I’m sure yours are old.

But what about the tough calls:
A guy driving along talking on his cell phone ordering a pizza takes a corner to fast and hits your child, crippling her for life. Do you (A) beat the living crap out of him and sue him down to homelessness or (B) forgive him and let the courts take care of the punishment?
Your wife has a one time affair and winds up pregnant with his child. Do you (A) beat the living crap out of him and send your wife packing or (B) forgive them both and raise the child as your own?
If these were plot lines in a Duke Wayne movie we know that the answer to the above would be (A). And the audience would cheer him all along the way.

But is this A REAL MAN?

Or do real men even talk about such things? Hokay, I know one man who did but they nailed him to a tree.

What would Chesterton and his friends say since none of them had a manly profession? I mean they were all writers and philosophers and that kind of namby-pamby little girl stuff.