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David Jordan's avatar

A wise man in my life loves the phrase "everyone wants to save the world, but nobody wants to do the dishes." The point, I think, is that true strength and virtue are not usually found in grand acts of heroism, but in daily, deeply unglamorous acts of sacrifice and service for those around you.

I also think we need a revitalization of the idea of *brotherhood,* which in its truest form, is the antithesis of the everything-is-a-competition and everyone-is-an-enemy sort of masculine dynamic that Christman describes. A true brotherhood directs our expression of strength and power away from each other and towards a common purpose.

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Sophia's avatar

This is where I get to brag about my dad! He comes from a dysfunctional --- loving to the best of its ability, but still dysfunctional --- family, and he is the softest man I know. He's had to become that on purpose --- he talks a lot about how he has a terrible temper, and in his youth didn't restrain it at all, but we don't see it. He's become that good at controlling himself. He does dishes, and makes food when our mom is sick (he used to work in a restaurant, too, so it's actual cooking, not microwaved stuff), and has come home from a long day at work to a household of crying women and set down his bag and come immediately to the work of mopping all of us up on *innumerable* occasions, without so much as a sigh. He has a soft spot for our rescue cats: one of them took long naps on the couch atop his chest, and two of them now vie for his lap as he works remotely from our basement. (One of them once fell asleep in his work chair, curled up in the blanket, when he got up to take a break, and when he came back he didn't have the heart to disturb him, and so worked from somewhere else.) He cries at weddings and funerals, and goes pink when anybody says anything nice about him. My sister and I have never not known what it means to love your wife and give yourself up for her, because that is what my dad *lives*; that, and leadership as service. This isn't stuff that gets him publicly recognized, and he's been criticized for not being take-charge enough as a husband, but it takes far more strength and self-discipline than curating the visible accidents of strength or manliness.

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