I went to see "300" tonight and I took my oldest boy (who turns 13 in a month) to see it. It was his official first rated "R" movie. With the exception a couple of breast shots and a little passionate husband and wife scene, I think it was a good movie for him.Oh and did I mention the gratuitous violence!Oh, yeah baby, it was a man's man movie: I LOVED it!
It says a lot about what modern man is missing in today's world. We have lost touch with our "fight for survival" nature and that loss has causes us to grow complacent. We settle for safe because it is familiar.
Today's man is domesticated, stripped of his warrior instinct (often by the church) he is left asking: What battle will I have fought? What will they say about me when I die? What story will be written by my life?
It all made for a good talk on the way home with my soon-to-be teenage son. We talked about the importance of standing up for what is right even when it looks like it might not be in your favor. We talked about intentions and how what or how we think is sometimes not enough. We discussed how a man is judged not by intent, but by actions; that is where character is born.
I told him I was proud of him and that he was a good son. I told him that becoming a man is more about learning to think of the welfare of others than it is learning to take care of one's self.
He smiled and we joked around a bit… And then I realized that the battle I was fighting was the battle for my son's heart. I began to understand that after I am gone the only people who will talk about me will be my children and I should only concern myself with what they will say and remember.
And I realized that the story that I was writing tonight is named Daniel.
