Boys to Men

Ran across an interesting article on a website I browse pretty routinely.  The article's title is "Where Have All The Renaissance Men Gone".  You can read it here.    A very good quote that deserves some consideration is,

"...you have Big Bang Theory nerds who cannot name a single contemporary jazz artist; sports junkies who don’t know who John  Paul II was; Bible thumpers who don’t own a single Beatles record; politicians who have never read a novel. These days no one tries to take on anything different for the simple pleasure of trying to improve themselves. They don’t stretch themselves."

It seems like this phenomenon is becoming more pervasive.  When a boy grows to manhood, who are his role models?  His mentors?  Who does he look to for inspiration?  How does he get to the point of living the life of today's youth to marriage, family, career, responsibility.

I think this issue hits every economic bracket, every region, every race.  But I also think it is worst in the Black community.  There is a big problem in lack of black men as role models for boys.  I know, it's tough to stereotype.  But it's something society should be concerned about and figure out how to make better.  When he was first elected, I thought Obama would make a difference.  I thought this was an issue he could take on.  I thought he would see the need and devote a portion of his time and the power of his office to this issue.  But no.  I don't really think he would know what to do.

The culture has coarsened.  That is unarguable.  Danger, wrong pathways, temptation is everywhere.  The easy road is front and center in every boy's life.  In fact it's there every day.  Making choices is a
big part of this.  When he was growing up I used to tell my son that he would be faced with many, many choices in his journey to manhood.  One key is to not let those choices be deadly or have irreversible impacts on your life.

One segment of the population gives me hope.  The Military.  They're coming to the end of 12 years of war.  Countless of our youth have seen terrible things, done very difficult things, have taken responsibility beyond their years.  And in the process they've become men.  Once again it's tough to stereotype but when I see the young men of today's military I'm usually pretty impressed.  And have hope for the future.

Reading back over this post I realize it's a bit rambling.  That seems to be my modus operandi these days.  But I think this whole issue is a big problem.  No easy answers.  But I'm going to figure what I can do, where I can volunteer, how I can contribute...in some small way.  Think about it.