Respect or Fear?

Fight, fight were the words everyone was yelling. I hurriedly rushed to the center of the crowd of students. It was I who was to do combat. I was a skinny little kid, my opponent was older and bigger. I was terrified! We both jockeyed for position and then wham it hit me. A direct punch to my head, rather than thinking that hurt, my first thoughts were. "Mark hits a lot harder than you do". It was at that moment I knew I would punish my foe. I made him pay for my pain and suffering that had been doled out to me for years. The crowd took notice. For weeks afterwards I was congratulated and revered for my punching prowess. It was at that moment that my delusion began, I now thought I was Respected but little did I know that it was only Fear. Fear that I may do that to one of them. It took me years to realize the error of my thinking, but in that time I hurt many an opponent not realizing the one I hurt the most was myself. I am healthier now than ever before, but every once in a while I want people to respect me and the old me creeps back into my thoughts. Thank God I have matured ;)

I have been thinking lately about the religious Gods that most of us pray to. Do we Respect them because of their Loving aspects or is it actually because we fear the repercussions if we dont. It seems to me the concept of Jesus was that he layed his life down for us, as any Loving parent would. I understand that sacrifice as I would do anything for my daughter. In fact if need be I could sacrifice my life for her. The thing is the concept that Jesus illustrates seems to have been perverted. There was a time Im sure when people saw the idea and new it was about Love, but now it seems most have learned to attribute fear to it. Fear that you will not be included unless you do as God says. Fear that you will be punished if you dont do the right thing, believe the right thought. I understand those fears. I understand completely from both sides, they are not born of Respect.

Tell me, do you Respect your God or Fear it?

A(absent).. D(dad)... D(disease)

"Hello Mrs. T, as you know little Johnny sure does have a lot of energy, hes curious, active, and quite talkative, he must be quite a handful at home." "I know, his Dad died young and Im finding Im just not up to the things he would love to do." "I totally understand, its a good thing hes the only boy in the class without a father, Im not so sure I could handle too many boys with that kind of energy."

So many years have passed since I was that age. I am saddened to see that there are many more boys who have to live with what I did. Now not all fathers have died, and this is what makes it even more tragic. Some just dont care enough to be active participants in their sons life, and others, because of their situations are denied their rights as fathers. What these situations are doing is creating a generation of drugged up kids(Ritalin). Now I know what I am suggesting is controversial but I think we need to ask ourselves, "are the boys of today physiologically challenged because of Nature or because of Nurture(lack of men)?" I know that how I respond to the world is very different than how my female counterparts respond. I also know that as a male if we are not allowed to express our inherent natures then it will surely come out in some other dysfunctional manner. This nature has to be nurtured not only by our mothers but most importantly by our fathers. How we as boys learn to traverse the road from boyhood to manhood is lead primarly from our fathers.

Now I have these questions, In the pursuit of equality for Women have we unintentionally discriminated against our boys? Has the pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction? Are we feminizing are boys?