CHAPTER 1
'BOYS TO MEN'
"MATURE MEN do not STAY the SAME! MATURE MEN are always expecting to ESCALATE and REFINE ourselves! Being BETTER is our GOAL!"
What is the number one ingredient that is so NECESSARY and MISSING at the same time in our MEN TODAY? Excellent question! Well ... it is something that comes over a period of time, little by little, at the most unnoticed and seemingly innocent and insignificant of times. It's applied from one soul to another soul, over long and short conversations. It's so POWERFUL and DYNAMIC because of the profound actions that CONFIRM its existence.
It is MATURITY! The great commodity that is laid on a person's HEART and MIND like another coat of fresh paint to redecorate our thinking to EXPAND greater dimensions! It's evident that WISDOM is received and LIVED! WISDOM without application is a SWOLLEN INTELLIGENCE blindly headed toward another DITCH!
When we find ourselves ALL ALONE in our favorite candy store! Mouths watering as we tingle with JOY over GIGANTIC ZOOM-ZOOMS and multi-flavored WHAM-WHAMS! With NO MATURITY we INDULGE! Then GORGE and stuff ourselves SICK with NO FORESIGHT to understand. Even TOO MUCH of a GOOD thing can and will make us SICK!
Wisdom says EAT some more now, until we are SATISFIED and then come back later, if the opportunity presents itself. Maybe even take a DOGGY-BAG! But once we've made MISTAKES, maturity says "That's enough, remember WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME!"
Having missed out on the AWESOME experience of having that FRIEND, MENTOR, CONFIDANT person called FATHER, I am thoroughly and totally convinced that the FATHER is the MOST CRUCIAL person and MISSING LINK in the lives of MEN and BOYS today meant to equip us with the GIFT of MATURITY!
Being a LIFETIME card-carrying MOMMA'S BOY, I appreciate every ounce of WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, SACRIFICE and LOVE that our mothers gave and continue to give with their total UNRESTRAINED COMMITMENT. But it is that MALE-TESTOSTERONE figure that is irreplaceable Their PHYSICAL STATURE, VOICE TONE and VIBE stirs you to FEAR, RESPECT and LOVE just by his merely walking in the room. These MEN are the epitome of what all BOYS and IMMATURE MEN should aspire to be. They are our HEROES and Mt. RUSHMORES that we climb for wealth of KNOWLEDGE and IDENTITY and use to structure our own MALE-DNA. So ... WHAT HAPPENED to those ANCHORS that were GOD-given to keep US, our HOMES, NEIGHBORHOODS and SOCIETY from going SHIPWRECK?
In a hyphenated word ... SELF-CENTEREDNESS! I believe that is TRUE that a little LEAVEN can and does LEAVEN the WHOLE LUMP! Somehow, some way a SNAKE of EVEL THINKING crept into the gardens of our MALE MINDS and RUINED our HARVEST of REAL MEN! INTEGRITY was given a BAD RAP and labeled with a BAD NAME and obviously left a BAD TASTE in the mouth of many of our PATRIARCHS! SAD, but true! So ... what is the SOLUTION to such an IMMENSE PROBLEM and PRESENT SITUATION? Like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said ... "Where do we go from here?" We go forward with TRUTH! We MEN of TRUTH stand together side by side and proclaim HONESTY and INTEGRITY in the name of TRUE MANHOOD and re-establish the FRONTLINE! We address these crippling LIES of RESPONSIBILITY HEAD ON! And we dare not FLINCH or RETREAT because our need for MEN in our culture and world is in dire distress and we at an IMPASSE!
"ARE WE THERE YET?"
When we were little boys, we were always wondering "How BIG am I today"? Have I gotten any TALLER since the last time I asked? Which probably, it was YESTERDAY! We would run and go get the nearest CRAYON and find our favorite wall or door trim and turn our backs so that we could mark the wall at the TOP of our HEADS! We were so excited at the SLIGHTEST GROWTH! Even if we have to imagine it! What happened to the desire to GROW UP and be SOMEBODY, to SUCCEED and out do every other little BOY, and be the first one to be a MAN ... a REAL MAN? Well the question has to be asked, "How do you know a REAL MAN?" Humph! GOOD QUESTION! Here's a better answer! I was personally BLESSED to grow up in the 60's. I believe GOD placed me in that particular point in time so that I could be a witness to what I know now was the GOLDEN AGE of REAL MEN.
Every TIME has a period and a SEASON! This was a TIME when MEN bonded. They talked endlessly about WHAT REAL MEN DO! They were confirming that AGELESS WISDOM of being a MAN from the generations of REAL MEN before them! We need to understand our roots, where we come from and HOW the HARSHNESS of being a nation that endured, suffered and was ABUSED in every imaginable way as SLAVE DESCENDANTS! Men struggled, endured and encouraged each other side by side to not only survive ... but PROSPER in very DARK DAYS.
So what happened to those qualities of BROTHERHOOD that equipped and raised BOYS to MEN? FREEDOM! It seems the irony of freedom has encompassed many minds with personal, family and social AMNESIA! We no longer feel the inner unction that was BRED into boys and men as something, not only necessary, but VITALLY ESSENTIAL.
With the struggle to survive comes COMMITMENT and DEDICATION as part of our upbringing. As wonderful as FREEDOM is, what our forefathers and mothers LIVED, DREAMED, and PRAYED for, we often behave like the SPOILED BRAT child of the wealthy who did nothing more than be born into affluence. It can be taken as a GIVEN, with no sweat from OUR brow in the building of success. It can be assumed by thoughts and behavior that this is the way things ought to be and that everything in the universe is in order.
There must need to be a SLAMMING ON THE BRAKES of this laissez-faire mentality that leads to mental SLOTHFULNESS and PHYSICAL IDLENESS. This welfare state of mind has paralyzed many men into the SHADOW of what our FATHER PATRIARCHS ... LIVED, BREATHED and DIED with. If we ask any particular group of men today what was the last HARD COVER book they read, after minutes of a BLANK and puzzled look, a vast majority would probably hunch their shoulders as they try to remember the title of that AMERICAN HISTORY book from the 10th grade. Worst yet, they would probably refer to magazines, shrugging with self-delusion about SPORTS Illustrated, TV guide and Play Boy occupying their literary minds. There's an ACHE and longing for those dear brothers of mine to take an HONEST and OBJECTIVE look at their PRESENT lives and FUTURE potential. Before it is too late and OPPORTUNITY has changed to a more viable population group and is not taking any further calls.
Men are born to LEAD, GUIDE and set the MORAL, SPIRITUAL and SOCIAL examples. What happened to the voice that SAYS what they mean and MEANS what they say? If Mr. So-and-So shows up, then everything will work out. It takes a LIFE of educational build up and MUCH processing for this to happen. It won't just happen by praying alone and crossing our fingers, hoping for the best! It takes AFFIRMATIVE and AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS.
"STRENGTH"
The first lesson of BOYS to MEN is STRENGTH, reaching down inside to that ESSENCE of manhood soul, the CORE of who we are and where everything is built on! How so? A man's dominant characteristic is his ability to STAND and WITHSTAND no matter what the opposition,...
