Virtues
Apr 21, 2015
Mr. Charlie’s Dog: A Story of Responsibility from My Childhood
I have mentioned Mr. Charlie one other time that I can remember; the old man who lived across from us on the bank of the Hatchie River. He is something of a legend for those that have fished in that area, not only because of the gargantuan catfish he would haul ...
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Famous Quotes: Fierce or Flippant – C.S. Lewis
When C.S. Lewis made the below quote, he was referring to the attitude of atheist at Cambridge vs. Oxford. In his day, there were such a large contingent of atheist at Oxford that they had become soft-thinkers rather than vocal or intellectual proponents of their beliefs. Cambridge, on the other hand, had a ...
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Man to Man: Dealing with Labels
When I was a kid, I spent a good bit of time playing in the mud and fields of the Hatchie river bottoms in Tennessee. As such, I was a filthy wreck most of the time. This, along with being a growing kid and “country poor”, meant I received a good deal ...
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TRThursday: Play Your Part, Manfully!
There is a lot of cynicism in today’s culture and media. Cynicism is different from sarcasm, for sarcasm is a play on truth and leaves the door open for humor or a way out, but cynicism is merely hopeless. Growing up, Ronald Regan was my president, and the message from him was almost ...
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The American Rustics
As I believe I have mentioned before, I am working on a book on various men of history titled something along the lines of “# Men of History: And the Character Every Man Should Cultivate.” The # will be the actual number of men in the book (originally it was going to be ...
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Feb 19, 2015
TRThursday: The Power to Strive and Fight and Conquer!
The word ‘Manly’ was one of Roosevelt’s favorite terms. In his day the term was associated less with machismo and more with true manliness. Yet even by the late 1800’s, Roosevelt began to see a softness forming in the American Spirit. The move from the hard-working, rural lifestyle to the comfort of the ...
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Men! Burn Your Ships!
In a sermon this last Sunday (2/15/2015) one of our pastors mentioned Cortés’ famous “burning of his ships” during his conquest of the Aztecs around 1519. For Cortés this was done to prevent a growing mutiny and is often used as an analogy for cutting off all forms of retreat, forcing ourselves to dedicate 100% ...
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Book Review: The Heroic Path: In Search of the Masculine Heart by John Sowers
John Sowers’ book, The Heroic Path: In Search of the Masculine Heart, had been on my radar for some time before I read it. I felt like I was playing this sort of game, you know, save the best for last. I could tell right away it was going to be good and ...
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Theodore Roosevelt: The Man and the Crowd
I have been reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt the last few weeks — well, rather, listening to it on Audible. I am about 3/4 of the way through the book and the thing that continues to strike me is how people describe Roosevelt when meeting him for the first time. I don’t know ...
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“Go To It!” – The Call Men Long to Hear
White Fang knew what he was good at. His master knew as well. Maybe we men get the call to ‘Go to it’ before we know what we are good at, but I have a feeling that we don’t; we long to hear it, and it comes at our time.
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Good Will Towards Men and the Lessening of Christmas
“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?” – G.K. Chesterton, Christian Author and Apologist, 1874-1936
I believe everyone is familiar with this Christmas saying, whether or not they ...
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Routine Will Kill You
“The less routine, the more life.” – Amos Bronson Alcott, American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher, and Father of Louisa May Alcott, 1799-1888
This article was inspired by a story a friend relayed to me. It wasn’t told with the intent of imparting a moral lesson, rather, something of a humorous and “Can ...
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