Senate Sketches # 1264 By Senator Hank Sanders ************************************* Only once in 1,263 weeks have I rewritten a previously published Sketches. I am now making that twice in 1,264 weeks. Copies of this particular Sketches have been requested far more than any other. I want to improve the original a little bit more and distribute it more widely. First, let me confess that I fall short as a man. Every man that I know falls short. But at least we leap for the manhood mantle, striving to be men. Because I fall short, I do not relinquish the right to ask men to be better men. I still have a duty to challenge boys to become men. The difference between men and boys is not a function of age. Some men are of tender years. Some boys have many years on them. The difference lies elsewhere other than years. Boys shun responsibility. Men accept responsibility. This is true in relationship to women, children, families, community, work and everything else. We cannot be men in church and boys in the community. Conversely, we cannot be boys in the community and suddenly become men when we walk in church on Sunday morning. Boys become daddies, as in “my baby daddy,” while men become fathers. Any boy can become a daddy by helping create a child. To become fathers, daddies must share responsibility for their children, thereby becoming men. Boys make babies. Men make families. Some boys boast of manhood because they impregnated a girl. That’s a sure sign of being a boy. Men take pride in establishing families. A boy acts once, brags a lot and is through. A man acts repeatedly to assure that lives brought into this world are cared for. Men build up. Boys tear down. Men build families, churches, communities, organizations, buildings, and other things. Boys, under illusions that they are doing manly things, disrupt, tear up and knock down that which men build up. Men protect. Boys must be protected. Men protect children, families, institutions, and communities. Boys fail to protect. Men create secure situations for children, families, institutions, and communities. Boys threaten the very security that men have wrought. Men lift up. Boys trample on. Men lift up children, the downtrodden, the oppressed and those in need. At best, ignore such people. At worst, they trample on them. Boys shun commitment. Men embrace commitment. Boys shun commitment in relationships with girls, women, families, communities, work and play. Men embrace commitment in these and other areas. Men provide. Boys consume that which is provided. Men provide families, communities, stability to society, peace to churches, protection to the weak, and hope to all. Boys use, misuse, abuse and consume without providing. Then they assume they are real men because they took that which men provided. Boys want everything now. They want everything without struggle. Men know that good things require investments of time and effort. They also know that struggle is one of God’s great gifts. Men understand that it is only through struggle that our God given talents, be they physical, mental, spiritual, or otherwise, are developed to the highest. Men unify. Boys divide. Men unify families, churches, communities, and organizations because they know that there is strength in unity. Boys divide and weaken because they think it shows their strength. Boys have fantasies. Men have visions. Boys fantasize about things that they would like to have. Too often they fantasize about that which men have provided. Men visualize what they want, then they plan and implement the vision. Men lead. When they cannot lead, they follow. If they cannot lead or follow, they at least get out of the way. Boys cannot lead, will not follow and refuse to get out of the way. When boys find a mess, they stir in it, making worse the smell and sight. Men remove the mess so that others will not step in it. Boys lift themselves in their own eyesight. Men lift their children, families, churches and communities in the eyesight of others, and more importantly, in the eyesight of God. Boys make fun of others. Men have fun with others. Boys play games on girls, women, children, and others. When men play, they play with their children, with their spouses, with their friends, and with their associates. Boys think they don’t need anybody’s help. They think they can get it done all by themselves because they are men. Men know they always need help, especially the help of God. Yes, there is a world of difference between men and boys. Do you see it?
