Wednesday, July 26, 2006
"...Do I Have To Draw You A Picture? Never Ask Me Again!"
That title is a movie quote - it's John Wayne in the "The Searchers" generally considered his finest performance. Because our vacation took us to Monument Valley where so many of John Wayne's John Ford directed performances were filmed, including "The Seachers", the wife and I have been on a bit of a binge watching those movies on DVD.Additionally, as an anniversary present, my wife found in an antique store in Leadville, CO while we were there a very early edition of "The Virginian" by Owen Wister. Most people know the title from the old TV show, but many don't know that the book is really the first western and it set the standard for so much that has come after - including many of Wayne's performances.
Our literary hero, and many of the characters Wayne portrayed are marked by traits that seem rare, at least publicly, these days. They were men of honor, few words, and genuine justice. You watch those old Wayne movies and it is what is unsaid that really counts. Some things were right, some things were wrong, no sense talking about them, you just did them, regardless of the cost. It was often because of the cost that one did not talk about it, it made the pain just that much worse.
Typically, what was right involved putting the good of the whole, or at least the other, ahead of one's personal good. The Virginian leads what would today be called a "lynch mob", soiling his personal purity, to save the community from the rustlers. In "Fort Apache," Wayne, the true hero of the piece, let's the horrible Henry Fonda take all the credit for the sake of Fonda's daughter and the morale of the unit. In "The Searchers" Wayne descends into an Indian-hating obsessive personal hell to return the kidnapped daughter to her family.
I couldn't help but think of these images as I read the recent spate of posts on the "feminization" of the church, as well summarized and commented on by Jollyblogger.
David concludes his post by commenting that the perceived feminization is having its greatest affect on young men. How do we correct this problem?
Well, if our western heroes are any measure, much of what it takes to be a man is about sacrifice, and it is unspoken. Boys learn how to be men not by being taught, but by being lead - that is to say shown - by men. They need to be in situations WITH MEN, doing things that men do, and learning by example. And most assuredly they do not need to discuss how they "feel" about it afterwards.
Men, if we really want to counter some of the current trends in the church, we need to just do it. Not talk about it, not discuss it, we need to do it. Yes it will be sacrificial and unpleasant, but that is the nature of things. No sense complaining - just do it. Then take your sons along and let them see you quietly enduring - don't talk to them about it, just let them see it.
Related Tags: men, boys, westerns, honor, church
