Men, as in Male Species

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.
Henry David Thoreau
In this article, let us begin with a few interesting quotes from some thinkers. Lana Turner says a gentleman is a patient wolf, while Confucius asks, without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts? Niccolo Machiavelli on the other hand argues that Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they secure themselves from attack, and then they attack others. Phyllis Dyler too has a point to put across, that a bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once. Oscar Wilde also argues that Men always want to be a Woman’s first love- Women; well they want to be a Man’s last romance. The Greatest Deception men suffer is from their own opinions, Leonardo Da Vinci. Finally, Mahatma Gandhi brings some moral perspective and argues that Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of fellow-men.
Interesting quotes, right? Well, this article is about Men, as in Male species of the Homo sapiens. We have often heard the phrase, “It’s a Man’s world”. Let’s test that theory, what is a married Man most “afraid of” when he comes home late, fails to pay the bills, or when he actually did something that is against marriage vows? What happens when Men meet together and are discussing? What is our greatest weakness? And what do we fear encountering at the door after a good quarrel over the phone. Scientists have argued that sometimes violence is the best self-defense we have against external forces. While beating a Woman represents the lowest point a Man can get to, it also exposes the kind of fear in us, that if we do not do something primitive like beat her we will not get some peace. This perception, a lie in itself, remember the Da Vinci quote above, reinforces the experience of walking in a Man’s shoe. So, what if a Man becomes gentle (Lana Turner says a gentleman is a patient wolf)? There is a likelihood that he will go down in history for being Great, after all, the wolf in him never got out of control. But in reality, we never really know how to handle the world in totality, except when we celebrate a victory. That moment we win a war over our enemies, just look at Winston Churchill in 1945, we become jubilant. That moment when in the pursuit of our goals when we succeed, we have that glow of when we were young and mum brought something home. That moment when we tell the world what we intend to do, no matter the individual cost. But most importantly, the hour, the minute, the second we convince someone’s daughter to be ours, what a moment, we will call ourselves up, invite ourselves out, blow up a month’s salary on drinks, and go to back to her very drunk and tell her “My Love- I am yours to command for a lifetime”. Men! This is what we are. What do we go through in life?
In a Man’s life you will find secret struggles and silent pains. We are never allowed to cry, those who do earn our ridicule for ages, just look at Abed Pele and William Ruto. We are trained from birth to hold our heads high, hold still and quiet when we are branded with ‘metal’, and desire only for greatness, for it is believed that only in greatness can our women count on us to be humble. When we are young, we are in love with and afraid of our mothers at the same time. After all, they have dealt with our fathers and we are definitely no match for them. When we get to puberty, we have or mothers, our fathers and of course the girls we begin to notice. Dealing with them all takes a toll on us sometimes, we just have to harden up and move ahead. When we pass puberty this word, this monster called “success” becomes the next in thing and women begin to look for that. The baby face we have in puberty is no longer helpful, we got to make money. Money doesn’t of course buy everything, but at this point what money doesn’t buy we certainly don’t need. Then we get married and we are done. We are happy when married of course; my point is our freedom, the little of it, is gone. We escape the millions whom we can dodge at times and have that one who believes we are their first baby, and I mean baby, not babe or whatever sweet words we are called during this period.
Finally, it suffices to note that our defining moment is never when we succeed, or when we grow in our mission. No, Man was ordained to succeed, he has no other choice. If he doesn’t then fellow Men will deny him any respect and his seeds will die. Our greatest moment is when we meet a woman and she accepts all our imperfections. Truth is some women know this fact and while some use it well, others just end up creating monsters in Men. When we meet her, we are humbled, feel desirable, re-energized, and sometimes drop dead. We are fulfilled when we meet them; it is what assures our sensibilities that we are Men, that the wolf in us can actually be humbled to gentleness when we meet her. No wonder we would go to the depths of the planet to accomplish it all, and then name it after a Woman, the Woman. So what can I say finally, it is a Woman’s World after all, we are just visitors, and we can make residency or become adventurous, our women just have to be Women enough to Model us.

This article represents Gender equality and the need to reinforce it for both