I'm boycotting the VMA, Miley Cyrus, twerking, all that crap that's going on around it. It makes me tired. And sad. And offended. And angry. On lots of different levels and at lots of different people. And I feel like we just play into all the madness when we continue talking about it and posting pictures of it. The world, our culture, our values, kinda suck.
But then last week someone on Facebook shared this letter that a dad wrote to his son. And I couldn't help but think that THIS is how we should be dealing with these type of situations. This is how we can overcome the sucky culture that we live in where these things happen. By teaching our kids that these things are not acceptable. That they are not cool or expected or manly or okay. And that if our children do them, we'll "kick their butt up and down the street." If we could do that successfully, maybe the next generation could fix some of the problems that ours has created.
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| No, I don't have a son, but SuperMom does, and he's too cute not to be featured on multiple blogs multiple days out of the week. |
Anyway, enough of my soap box. Here is my favorite part of the letter.
"Listen, son, don’t let the world tell you how to be a man. They don’t know anything about the subject.
Men are loyal. Men are honest. Men respect and honor women. A man goes out and finds one woman, and he vows to protect and love her for the rest of his life. A man would never betray that vow. Even the weakest and most cowardly man — if he is a man at all — would die for the woman he loves. Your dad is no hero, but let someone try to hurt your mom and watch him suddenly turn into Superman (or Batman, whichever you prefer).
See, son, you don’t have to be big and strong to be a man, although I think you will be one day. You don’t have to be “cool” or athletic. You don’t have to play guitar or fix cars. These are all fine things, but they don’t define a man. ...
A man is defined by how he treats women, by how he keeps his promises, and by how he protects and serves the ones he loves. That’s what makes a man a man. My dad taught me that, he taught it by example. I pray I can do the same for you.
Oh, and by the way, if I ever catch you disrespecting women, I will sit you down and talk to you about it. But first I’ll kick your butt up and down the street. That’s a promise."
Men are loyal. Men are honest. Men respect and honor women. A man goes out and finds one woman, and he vows to protect and love her for the rest of his life. A man would never betray that vow. Even the weakest and most cowardly man — if he is a man at all — would die for the woman he loves. Your dad is no hero, but let someone try to hurt your mom and watch him suddenly turn into Superman (or Batman, whichever you prefer).
See, son, you don’t have to be big and strong to be a man, although I think you will be one day. You don’t have to be “cool” or athletic. You don’t have to play guitar or fix cars. These are all fine things, but they don’t define a man. ...
A man is defined by how he treats women, by how he keeps his promises, and by how he protects and serves the ones he loves. That’s what makes a man a man. My dad taught me that, he taught it by example. I pray I can do the same for you.
Oh, and by the way, if I ever catch you disrespecting women, I will sit you down and talk to you about it. But first I’ll kick your butt up and down the street. That’s a promise."
3 comments:
Tiff, this is incredible! I am saving this letter. And, thanks for the cute kid pic :)
I love that letter! So true.
Right on. I'm thankful ABJ is too young to look up to her, but I can't help to think of the Tweens that saw Hanna Montana twerking and thought it was cool.
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