What is a man?

[Warrior74]

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-whatisman.htm

Classic Mark Twain. Not for the faint of heart.

 

[(JJ)]

i didnt read the whole thing. personally i got tired of hearing the recurring phrase that is a female mantra--"i am the way i am because of outside forces."

bull fvcking sh1t.

now i can appreciate twain's prowess and literal abilities as much as the next guy, and while that was very well written, its merit ends there. that isnt being a man. being a man is taking control of your life, your actions, and the direction you're heading and making what you want come true.

think about any solid MAN you know. i guarantee he's not that way in your mind for no reason. and i guarantee he didnt get those merits because he just "let his surroundings bring him" his manliness. he probably busted his ass in whatever his craft is... if it's an athlete, he's spent countless hours on his field. if he's a scientific mind, he's killed himself with books. if he's your father, he busted his ass working to make a living to feed you. i know you didnt write this and im not trying to be a d1ck to you but this blase attitude towards making your own life better is not a good way to be.

 

[Warrior74]

i didnt read the whole thing.

Until you do that, your post is completely invalid. You failed. You took the one thing in it that "set you off" and decided to come back and rant at me personally about it. You are the faint of heart I spoke of.

 

[Crissco]

"There are gold men, and tin men, and copper men, and leaden mean, and steel men, and so on--and each has the limitations of his nature, his heredities, his training, and his environment. You can build engines out of each of these metals, and they will all perform, but you must not require the weak ones to do equal work with the strong ones. In each case, to get the best results, you must free the metal from its obstructing prejudicial ones by education--smelting, refining, and so forth."

I don't agree with this at all. I believe we all are capable of achieve great things, its just that most of the people out there are very lazy and don't put in enough effort in whatever they choose to do. Other then that so far its a pretty damn interesting read.

 

[Proselytiser]

i didnt read the whole thing. personally i got tired of hearing the recurring phrase that is a female mantra--"i am the way i am because of outside forces."

bull fvcking sh1t.

now i can appreciate twain's prowess and literal abilities as much as the next guy, and while that was very well written, its merit ends there. that isnt being a man. being a man is taking control of your life, your actions, and the direction you're heading and making what you want come true.

think about any solid MAN you know. i guarantee he's not that way in your mind for no reason. and i guarantee he didnt get those merits because he just "let his surroundings bring him" his manliness. he probably busted his ass in whatever his craft is... if it's an athlete, he's spent countless hours on his field. if he's a scientific mind, he's killed himself with books. if he's your father, he busted his ass working to make a living to feed you. i know you didnt write this and im not trying to be a d1ck to you but this blase attitude towards making your own life better is not a good way to be.

The old man goes on to explain that when something is done the motivation still comes from an outside force.

 

[Warrior74]

People don't read here. They react. Just like women do. The latch on to a key point that sticks in their craw and wig out over it instead of trying to understand fully. I've been guilty of that myself and reading this story there were several points I disagreed with, but I kept on reading. And that in my opinion is the difference between a boy and a man. Once you fully understand only then can you dismiss or cosign a point of view. As long as you are just reacting to what you think is a barb against your world view, you are trapped by that world view.

 

[Plinco]

Yeah, its frustrating to hold public and personal approval as important, have an issue contradict the two, and have to go against the public in what they hold is valuable. But it is what it is.

Thanks for posting this.