Think Like A Man And Act Like A Man

I had the honor of being invited to "The Office of Intercultural Relations Collegiate Dialogue on Diversity" at the San Diego State University. There were a few keynote Speakers at the event, Dr. James Kitchen and Washington Navarrete, who were very interesting to hear out. The event had various workshops-

-The first workshop I had the pleasure to attend was “Think Like A Man And Act Like A Man”  which was very insightful. We took a good look into the of what a man really is and what society thinks a man should be.

One of the questions asked was “ What is a man? Or better yet what qualities make up a man?“. And it was pretty steady around the table that a man should be; Strong, dependable, honorable and have the gumption to be accountable for his actions whether he’s being judged on his merits or his failures.

 Almost on cue, two ladies trickle in and sit down next to me. Naturally once they were brought up to speed the two ladies had their perspective to contribute. One lady agreed with the gentlemen and adds that a man should be respectful towards ladies as well. We all uniformly agreed to her notion and then it happened. Her friend or colleague started to interject a litany list of stereotypes, “a man should have a job, and be able to take you somewhere in his car...” When she stops and realized that we were all not laughing with her but to the contrary she got a little embarrassed. At that moment  Eddy chimes in that she was right to say those things because society or American culture says she’s right.

He also made a good point about that fact that we don’t value a mans ability for compassion. Nor is it encouraged to talk about- feelings among men. We went on to explore other facets that make a man a good person rather than just a man or the projection of what a man should some up to. The whole experience was very intellectually stimulating and put perspective on some of the values within myself.