The Upward Call: Raising Men of Honor

I have grown very tired of the popularity in broadcast media of making men appear stupid and ridiculous. We see it every time we turn on the television -- from commercials showing men incapable of preparing breakfast or hanging mini-blinds to a host of situation comedies depicting them completely incompetent as husbands and fathers.

I know this male-bashing trend has risen from liberal feminism trying to force society into seeing men as incidental and unnecessary. I am the mother to a son and grandmother to a grandson and I am highly offended that Hollywood has bent to this influence. I have no unnecessary men in my family. They do not deserve to be told every time they turn on the TV that they are dim, slow-witted bunglers.

Many will say that these shows are all in fun and I should lighten up. But as I watch my ten-month old grandson stop what he is doing every time a Little Caesar’s commercial comes on where the people do nothing but mumble I know that television has influence. Children learn what they see. And there is a lot of offensive programming on television right now.

The worst offender on TV is advertised on one network as “the most popular comedy on television.” It is a sitcom that portrays two brothers living together with one brother divorced and having joint custody of his 11-year old son, who lives with them part time. My biggest problem with this show is that it depicts the father as an idiot, despite the fact that he has a thriving practice as a chiropractor and depicts his brother as the competent one, despite the fact that he is a hard-drinking womanizer who sleeps with a different woman in almost every episode. The 11-year old boy sees and comments on all of the lewd behavior of his uncle and the failures of his father. It makes the son appear to be the level-headed one. What kind of example is this for young men? How can we expect boys to grow into honorable men with this kind of mentality so prevalent?

I gladly spoke the words of my marriage vows to love, cherish, honor, and obey my husband—because he is trustworthy of those promises. He gladly spoke the words of our marriage vows to love, cherish, honor, and protect me—because he meant them and demonstrates them every day. Obviously, I am not a feminist, but I am also not a weak woman who needs to prove her self-worth by clinging to a man for every need. I can change a tire and install ceiling fans. Together, my strong, intelligent husband and I have raised two strong, intelligent daughters and a strong, intelligent son.

There are young men out there without the positive influence of good male role models. It is imperative that people of conscience speak up for those who can’t. It is time that wives and mothers who respect the men in our lives demand that Hollywood produce entertainment that is more worthy of our husbands and sons. If we want more appropriate programming, we must not stay the “silent majority.”  

First printed January 2, 2006 on the Op-Ed page of the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper, Huntington, WV.

The Upward Call: Raising Men of Honor

https://typingone-handed.blogspot.com/2008/06/upward-call-raising-men-of-honor.html

Who Am I?

I have spent years of my life trying to answer that question. I started being aware that there had to be a reason for my existence in my late teens. I became a Christian at the age of 12, a very awkward age and a little early to know just who I was becoming. The one thing I did know at that time was that I needed to have God in my life by accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Along the road on my search for purpose, I realized that my love of writing was a gift from God. My love of writing started early...

I wrote sing-songy poems as a young child. In 5th grade I took well-known nursery rhymes and made them into plays; then recruited my friends to perform them with me for the kindergarten and 1st grade classes at Lyndon Hill Elementary School in Maryland. In North Carolina, when I was 12, I developed a huge crush on my mother's best friend's brother. I wrote him a poem and asked him to wait for me to grow up and then marry me (he was in his late 30's at the time!).

At Kubasaki High School, in Okinawa (a prefecture of Japan), I joined the journalism class and became the Features Editor for the school paper, The Typhoon. I enjoyed that so much that my senior year I became the paper's Editor-on-Chief. At the age of 17 I had the opportunity to attend a press conference for Billy Graham and his entourage. I got to interview him during the press conference and my interview was the cover story of the next issue of the school paper, pictures and all!

About this time, I started seriously trying to define myself as a person. As is common, I ran into many road blocks, including being required to write an editorial for the school paper on the topic of the Equal Rights Amendment that was coming up before the US Congress that year. I was so very intimidated by my journalism advisor and her anti-male attitudes that I wrote that editorial with a slant toward militant feminism, even though I had no interest in being a feminist or being militant.I finished high school and enrolled in my first college writing course. The very first assignment I turned in brought an "F" for the grade. I was devastated. I had never had a grade like that on anything I wrote where I took time to thoughtfully put the paper together. (Never mind that Brit Lit research paper in 12th grade---no, you can't do well starting the night before the paper is due!)

I later found out that the instructor didn't like my writing style. I worked at improving but was never able to pull better than a "C" grade on anything and I finished the course with a "C". I was discouraged and decided that my talent was childish and I didn't pursue writing again for almost 10 years.

I always had stories in my head that I wanted to put on paper, but that instructor's opinion outweighed the encouragement I got from friends and family. I assume I felt that because she was a college instructor, her opinion was more valid. The lesson in this is to be very aware of the people influencing your children's self-image, even at the college level.After I wrote my first devotion to be included in a church devotional for Easter in 2000, the writer's block was somewhat lifted. I became interested in creating web sites and did that for a while, including one for the Salvation Army Olympic Ministry during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. I didn't write on a regular basis again until 2005, when I started writing a column for my church newsletter.

In the fall of 2005, I was moaning about not having enough time to do all the things I am interested in when my husband suggested that I focus on what I'm good at doing - writing. As always, God's timing is perfect. And this time I listened to the encouragement of family and friends and began writing again in earnest.In May of 2006, my husband made it possible for me to start an apprentice writer's program with the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. The lessons are challenging, pushing me beyond the ways I limit myself. I have deadlines each month that I find especially challenging as I try to take care of my family. I resigned my job as secretary for our church in January 2007 in order to narrow my focus.

And as God leads me, I am looking to Christian writers for guidance to eventually write full-time. Right now I listening for the still, small voice that leads my hands as I write to glorify God - because He is the Author of all good works!

Who Am I?

https://typingone-handed.blogspot.com/2007/06/about-me.html