Art Imitating Life - The Softness of a Man

You gotta love these commercials these days, I mean I have explained and listed numerous things to suggest when a man is not being a man.  But those Miller Lite commercials are taken Man Code to places I never thought I would ever have to "explain."  The funniest of those commercials, I will title it "The Bathroom," actually shows a man asking his friends to go to the bathroom with him.  Or how about the McDonald's commercial where the newlywed couple are about to board the plane until the husband finds out the McRib is out and he wants to delay the honeymoon. 

These commercials maybe an exaggeration, an embellishment of the truth, but there is some truth to this.  There is truth to the fact that there is an identity crisis that have left men wondering if they really are men.  Just this past Fall alone, six new TV Shows came out focusing on the role man plays with the family and society.  The titles of the some of these shows: "How To Be A Gentleman", "Last Man Standing", and "Man Up."

CNN did a second article about the declining roles men have at home and in the workforce.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

"In developed Western countries, man has unprecedented freedom to chose, to a degree heretofore unknown, a life of his own wanting and design. A mere hundred years ago, man couldn't afford to dawdle in limbo between adolescence and manhood; manhood was thrust upon him for survival. Today, more opportunity lies at his feet than ever. Yet with this increased opportunity comes increased confusion, and the response on the part of some men has not been encouraging.

Take the Occupy Wall Street movement, for instance. While diverse and scattered, some of the mottos and slogans on display are in stark contrast to the traditional and time-tested ideas of manliness. Instead of industriousness, responsibility and entrepreneurship, these men demand free college education, required living wages and greater distribution of someone else's wealth. Rather than look inward and rely on their own self-sufficiency, they look for a handout. A man's livelihood once depended on his hands, back and brain. Today, the government can do all that for him, if he lets it."

I never thought I said the day where a man would have to ask the question:

"How does one be a man today?"

Am I over-reacting and maybe over-thinking this too much? Should I just accept the fact that the role of the man in society is changing and evolving?

Entertainment has a way of becoming real in many different forms.  The old saying "Art Imitating Life" is not really complete.  Based on the powerful phenomenon called Hip Hop, for example, the saying really should be "Art Imitating Life Imitating Art."  It is not uncommon for Joe out in Montana to really believe women on the Real Housewives of Whatever act like that day to day.  It is not uncommon for a young boy to pick up a Lil Wayne tape and really believe in order to become a great rapper he has to abuse substances and smoke a ton of weed.

I hope it does not become commonplace for a young man to ask his friends to accompany him to the restroom or grown men to think it is okay to postpone important moments in the life of a marriage because of the release of a fast food sandwich....I can only hope!

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