Once Were Warriors
How can you spot a man in today’s world? It is getting harder and harder to see them in action. Should men play it safe?
Let me offer you another perspective from the post below on this subject. It was put to us recently in a seminar by guest speaker Jed Diamond that unless we as fathers, teachers and male members of society act professionally in the roles that we find ourselves, we are doing the children and ourselves a disservice. Jed advocates that we should act out the goodness and wisdom within us and if prosecution and jail is the end result then so be it. If you believe that fathers and their children have a right to be equally intimate as their mothers then you should be vocal about this fact. Be proud that you posses these pure emotions.
I would only see my daughter for 2 out of every 14 days and she loved hoping in the bath with me. It became a concern for some when she was 8 yrs old and still insisted on the practice. I was close to stopping the practice but for my mother who wisely said “she will let you know when its time” Sure enough before she was 9 yrs she one night said “Daddy I don’t want to bath with you” I let her know that was just fine. That daughter is now 21 and is a very well adjusted child.
Consider those of political persuasion in the past who were jailed and tortured for the freedoms that we should be experiencing right now. Changing evil in society never comes without cost. Who is prepared to pay this cost? When Rosa Parks decided not to give up her seat and go to the rear of the bus she stood to lose her life and that of her family. Make no mistake about it, this is a war and like a civil war it is a difficult one to fight as the enemy and the expected outcome are at times difficult to identify.
Brave and focused men are needed in this fight for both ours and our children’s rights.
I would not like to be seen as pedantic, but I think there is something very important in the closing paragraph of this article. Compare these two extracts.
– Consider those of political persuasion in the past who were jailed and tortured for the freedoms
– Brave and focused men are needed in this fight for both ours and our children’s rights.
The men’s movement is often labelled a rights movement. I would ask you this. Did Rosa Parks fight for the right to sit in that seat, or did she fight for the freedom to sit in that seat, because she had been denied that right.
This is my perspective. Rights are individual aspects of Freedom. In a decent society the majority remove the rights of the few who abuse freedom. In an evil society a few remove freedom and tell the majority what their rights are.
We have had great freedom in this country and we have not recognised it. Now we have lost it and now we find we are learning what rights are.
If I fight for anything it is for freedom, in the hope that my children will not be subjected to a world in which they are by the law of the few denied their rights.
Comment by Bevan Berg — Sun 5th March 2006 @ 10:33 am