20 Things Boys Can Do to Become Men

Esquire.com via Yahoo.com ^ | 27SEP2013 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[Jack Hydrazine]

Why should a young man listen to an old guy about the best way to become a man? Because the typical teen is not yet able to see a future past the next few months. That's not a fault of character, but the fact that teens' brains have not yet physically matured. The pre-fontal cortex (PFC) does not fully develop in most people until they're twenty-four years old. Yet, the PFC is responsible for regulating mood, attention span, impulse control, and the ability to plan ahead and understand the consequences of one's actions. In the meantime, it's up to the adults to guide them by showing them possible consequences-good and bad-of their behavior. With that in mind, here's my guide to becoming a man: 1. Learn who you are as an individual.

Figuring out who you are, what you care about, what you believe in, and what you stand for is the most important-and most difficult-challenge of becoming a man. We're all raised with people telling us what to think, how to act, and what to say. Sometimes those people are parents, teachers, ministers, and other so-called authorities.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Malcolm Wallace:

“It’s our wits that makes us men.”

[central_va]

Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

[mad_as_he$$]

I might give a $hit what this guy has to say if he still called himself Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. I will not listen to anything an Muslim sports “star” has to say. Actors have more cred.

[Baynative]

And then I know that all I've learned, my kid assumes.
And all my deepest worries must be his cartoons.
And still I'll try to tell him all the things I've done,
relating to what he can do when he becomes a man.
And still he'll stick his fingers in the fan.

-John Sebastian

[NEMDF]

I had a good friend who was a POW in Viet Nam for 6 years. He told me he used this poem to keep his sanity during the ordeal.

[Jack Hydrazine]

When a Muzzie, criminal, politician or other form of lowlife speaks a truth should you listen and recognize it for what it is?

[central_va]

a Muzzie, criminal, politician comes ups to the bar, the bartenders says....

[knarf]

First ... get saved.

[Vigilanteman]

Kipling was one of the greatest poets of all time. My father, grandfather and uncle recited him to me constantly.

More than four decades later (and two after Dad died), I can still remember a talk he had to me at about age 14.

"Son," he said, "I know you are getting to the age where you will be experiencing some strong feelings and changes in your body, if you haven't already. This will especially be true when you are around girls. But remember this: God gave man sufficient blood circulation to supply either his brain or his dick, but never at the same time. Until you are with the girl you are married to and plan to spend the rest of your life with, never allow your brain to be completely shut down, not even for a little while. If you ever find yourself in a situation when the shutdown is happening, get away quickly."

Dad's advice was excellent. There were a few dates which I went on and found that brain shutdown thing was indeed happening. I cut them short and even in a couple of cases, ended them abruptly.

Yeah, it was a little embarrassing at the time. In a few cases, it was even embarrassing enough that I couldn't bring myself to even talk to the girl again. But when I found the one I wanted to marry, it was well worth it. The number of people you can trust to be around when your brain shuts down are few and rare. And probably the only one you can trust unequivocally in that situation is the one you marry.

The frequency of these "close encounters" may have diminished with the years, but the passion has not.

[jsanders2001]

The Left does not approve of this message. They do approve of the New Boy Scouts: homo training centers for boys though otherwise known as The NAMBLA Indoctrination Centers of America.

[central_va]

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing......Only I will remain."

[married21]

That’s great advice. I’m going to have to save it for when my boy needs it.

[steelhead_trout]

"but the fact that teens' brains have not yet physically matured. The pre-fontal cortex (PFC) does not fully develop in most people until they're twenty-four years old."

[mad_as_he$$]

None of those speak the truth - especially the first one.

Do you listen to Bill Clinton?

[Jack Hydrazine]

I said, “If” not “When.”

[Jack Hydrazine]

Will this work better for you?

The Unofficial Goldman Sachs Guide To Being A Man

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-gselevator-guide-to-being-a-man-2013-9

[Stormdog]

“The number of people you can trust to be around when your brain shuts down are few and rare.”

I’m writing that one down and passing it on.

[Ribeye]

I have this Kipling poem framed and on the wall in each of my boys bedrooms.

[Dr. Sivana]

Actors have more cred.

Don't you remember? He was the co-pilot or navigator in "Airplane!"