For a long time now, western culture has gone from acknowledging the need for real men, to working to eliminate us.  We glamorize and reward men who abdicate their responsibilities, while ridiculing and slandering real men.  I remember watching a movie once (the title escapes me) wherein the protagonist was referred to as a "man's man."  This character was a womanizer who pranced around in designer suits seducing women left and right with lines that could only have any effect (other than meriting a good old fashioned whoopin') in the universe we know as the romantic comedy.  He was fashionable; he was very impressed with himself, and he ordered drinks, the names and substances of which a real man would never allow to cross his lips.  I thought to myself:  "This guy?"  A man's man would beat the snot out of this guy.  A man's man doesn't frolic around Fifth Avenue, limp-wristed, having his hair cut by a stylist.  A man's man gets his hair cut in a place where you get to choose between a burr, a flat-top, the classic part to one side, or a mullet (if he really means bidness).  Sadly, there are segments of our society who actually think of men like this one upon hearing the phrase "man's man."  How far have we fallen? Let me tell you about a man's man.  He honors the Lord.  If he's married, he loves his wife and takes care of her.  If he has kids, he loves them too.  He spends his time with them because he's proud to be the man in their lives, and he welcomes everything that comes along with that.  He prays, always.  He may hate early mornings, but he's well-acquainted with them, because he steps up every day and says "I'll get it done."  He's not a womanizer.  In fact, womanizers steer clear of him.  You won't find him at a bar after work, mostly because he just hasn't gotten enough of his wife yet.  You wouldn't call him fashionable; he usually wears ten-dollar jeans.  Oh, he might have the money, but it's just the principle.  He's not too "enlightened" to pledge his allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Parents, keep those real men coming.  Raise your boys to be men.  I think we've all had a glimpse at one time or another of what it looks like when a real man is nowhere to be found.  Just look at Europe, the executive branch of the U.S. government, MSNBC, Maroon 5.  If that happens, we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves.