Be a Man of Respect

 



To be anything in life demands respect. You cannot force people to respect you. That is simply instilled fear which leads to resentment and hatred.

 

Start with self-respect, stand up to bullies, stand up to people who would bully others, have a strong moral code, adhere to your values and let others spread the word you are a man to be respected and not to be crossed.

 

Let it be known you are a man of honour who fights for the underdog.

 

Let your actions speak volumes, people will respect you and your status in society will increase.

On the Virtues of Selflessness



During my time working as a bouncer, on some pretty rough doors, my role was to protect people. In fact as far back as I can remember, even as a kid, I felt the overwhelming need to protect those unable to protect themselves.

 

Whether as a kid, or a bouncer, my virtue of selflessness kicked in. I didn't protect the weak and innocent for some sort of payback or even gratitude. I did it because it was a virtue instilled in me, by my upbringing.

 

Selflessness produces courage, a manly virtue in and of itself. When you put the group first, courage comes flooding in to your body like releasing the dam.

 

If you seek to be a man of worth, you need courage, you need to put the needs of the group before your own and you need to protect the weak and the innocent.

 

Selflessness is a sure fire route to finding the courage to be a man.

Pursue Virtue - Not Money

How many times do we see in the news, Billionaires that treat their workers no better than slaves. Paying at or below the legal minimum wage, and making them suffer degrading and dehumanising practices such as no toilet breaks and working long unsociable hours for little if any benefit.

 

Then we have Billionaires that pay less in taxes than their cleaners!

 

There is nothing inherently wrong with wealth creation, but wouldn't humanity on a global scale benefit if we all started to pursue Virtue over the pursuit of money?

 

After all, were all on the same journey. Were all going to the same destination, some sooner than others.

 

Do we want to be remembered as a virtuous person, or a person that pursued wealth at the cost of their own humanity.

Freedom to speak

 

This year has seen universities banning speakers, just in case it may offend a student! The insanity of paying the equivalent of a deposit on your first mortgage, for little to no real education, while those at the top of the educational food-chain are on rather substantial remuneration packages, for delivering less and less, eroding the true value of education under the guise of political correctness and protection of imagined civilities of some of it's student body, is surely the road to an Authoritarian, dystopian state, not unlike the imagining's of Equilibrium.

 

To which I place this quote from Salman Rushdie, no stranger to free speech himself:

 

"Now look, I'm in favour of good manners... But to equate good manners... with the liberty to say what one thinks, even if people don't like it, is to make a false comparison... Ideas are not people.

 

Being rude about an idea, is not the same as being rude about your Aunt... so if you don't like the book, close the book. If you don't like the movie, don't go to see the movie. You are as free as the makers.

 

They have the right to speak and you have the right not to listen, if you fear it will upset you... But what you don't have, is the right to use your alleged offended-ness as a reason to stop other people from speaking."

 

Students should be actively encouraged to attend speeches from characters that may be seen as offensive by some and used as a testing ground. Questioning or the orator, the Socratic method applied fully and openly, is the only way to advance thought. Banning a speaker on grounds of offended-ness and political correctness is one way to ensure the further dumbing down of a nation.

 

 





The zulu principle

The Zulu Principle

“This [was]… an idea I had after observing my wife read a four-page article in Reader’s Digest on the subject of Zulus. As a result, within a few minutes she knew more than I did about Zulus and it occurred to me that, if she had then borrowed all the available books on Zulus from the local library, she would have become the leading expert in the county.

If she has subsequently been invited to stay on a Zulu kraal (by an unsuspecting chief) and read about the history of Zulus at Johannesburg University for another six months, she would have become one of the leading experts in the world.

The key point is that my wife would have applied a disproportionate effort to becoming relatively expert in a very narrow subject. She would have used a laser beam rather than a scattergun and her intellectual and other resources would, in that narrow context, have been used to maximum advantage…

That way, you will become relatively expert in your chosen area. It is only necessary to be six inches taller than the other people in a room to see above everyone’s heads. Applying The Zulu Principle helps you grow these extra six inches.” 

Dress like a gentleman



Black is the new black! Black never goes out of fashion for a real man, for those aspiring to become men, aspire to wear black. It needs to be said, a man is never seen wearing white socks with black shoes! Here's some more pointers for the aspirational man.

• Wear Black.
• Oxford shoes, not Brogues.
• A well fitted suit.
• White, preferably Oxford Shirt.
• Tie (Not novelty).
• Keep jewellery to a minimum and no ear rings.

Poppins Parenting



The problem is, I know which are the 'right' answers, but as a parent, with stress, sleepless nights and so on, sometimes we all slip, have a faulty response to the situation and regret it later. (I often find myself apologising to my children if I've been caught in an unguarded moment).

We can't be Mary Poppins all the time, but we can try our best and not beat ourselves up for being human.