Be a Man!

Today I did my first fantasy football draft. If you know me well at all you know that sports really just arent my thing. I never really had a drive to be a part of them or even watch them. That was more of my brother’s arena. While he was going to sports camps and practicing different plays in the playbook, I was practicing piano and roller blading around the neighborhood. I was so thankful for my friends Adam and Lindsey Hood for helping with all of this draft business. I would have been up a creek without them.
While I was doing this I couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged. In the Midwestern society in which I grew up and currently live it is more valued for a man to know about sports than it is for him to know about the arts. It was a constant thorn in my side growing up feeling like I didn’t measure up due to my lack of interest in athletics. Now, things have changed and there is more confidence there, but I still feel the sting of what was drilled in my brain by my school, and the area in which I lived.
On the spiritual side of this I feel like Satan is going to do anything he can to make me feel insecure or unworthy. This, right now, is just a series of many events the give a little jab at my insecurities. Another example happened at the gas station the other day. I was renting a movie from Redbox and 2 redneck guys get out of their truck and start staring at me as they walk in the store. One of them walks in but the other just stands there and stares. After I finish getting my movie I look over and say “yes?” to which he replies. “Are you wearing make up boy?” (keep in mind I was inbetween shows and had some eyeliner residue. It’s really hard to get off.) I said “Yea, I probably have some hanging on. Im in a show here in town and I am inbetween showings.” To which he ignorantly replied “A show for queers? (the word was stronger, but I edited it)” I responded with “No sir, a show for professionals.” and walked away. 1st off I am always shocked at the gall of people who can approach a total stranger and say things like that. 2nd, I think so many men have been deeply wounded by men like the hicks I encountered. They don’t always take the form of a redneck though. Sometimes they are business men, teachers, family members, or mentors.
I guess the point of this blog is to express that just because you love to leap across a dance floor instead of a hurdle, or hit high notes instead of homeruns, or act like a quarterback in a play instead of actually being one, or painting a portrait instead of writing in a playbook, doesn’t mean that you are any less manly or strong. So, to all my brothers in the arts, let go of the things other men have said or done to make you feel inferior or weak. You are strong and a true man. Be confident!