Is a Mature Man Hard to Find?

Okay, I'm a little late with this one, but if you haven't seen it yet, you should check out this recent column from Dennis Prager, "Is America Still Making Men?"

If you are unfamiliar with Prager, he's a longtime radio host and author with a style that is usually polite and gentle, but firm. But the usual critics will dismiss him the same way they dismiss Michael Savage. Their loss. Prager airs live the same time Rush Limbaugh does, and while Limbaugh focuses on partisan politics, satire, and getting a rise out of the Left, Prager focuses a little less on partisan politics but is still decidely conservative, often talking about the larger issues behind current events. Regular topics of Prager's include religion (he's Jewish), happiness, and the differences between the sexes. Gender issues is what he wrote about in this column, hence the title.

What is a man (as opposed to a boy)? The traditional understanding was that a man is he who takes responsibility for others -- for his family, his community and his country -- and, of course, for himself. A man stood for ideals and values higher than himself. He conducted himself with dignity. And he was strong.

Anakin Niceguy may have something to say about that. Of course, all boys, provided they don't die, grow up to be men. But they don't all grow up to be mature, well-adjusted men. And no, I don't confuse apathy and letting women walk all over you as being mature and well-adjusted.

When I was a boy in the 1950s, without anyone expressly defining it, I knew what a man was supposed to be.

Oops. Dennis mentioned the 1950s. Certain people automatically insist that someone who speaks fondly about any aspect of the 1950s supports wife beatings, racist lynchings, witch hunts, and must want to kill all the gays, too. Yes, I actually found a blog entry trying (and failing) to counter this very column by Prager that took that route.

I wonder how many boys are told to "be a man" today; and if they were, would they have a clue as to what that meant? It would appear that for millions of American boys, this has not been the reality for decades. Many families and society as a whole seem to have forgotten boys need to be made into men.

He goes on to list nine main reasons, and there's a lot of truth in what he says.

Check it out.