[June 21, 2024] In my ongoing and new series on advising young men, I get articles fans sent me to read – and thank you all for doing so. And, yes, those articles are helpful as I sort through them and pick out what are among the best. One such article at BlackDoctor.org titled “13 Things My Dad Taught Me…” gives one such list. And I do like lists for simplified ways to communicate.
Overall, I’d give the article a “B minus” because several items on the list provided are wrong. The most glaring error is:
“13. Be Yourself. It’s up to you to define who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you what specific things you can or can’t do because you’re a man or a woman. If you want to be a surgeon, go for it. If you want to cook, cook. If you want to build something, be careful and don’t hit your finger with the hammer. If something needs to be cleaned, clean. Do you.” [emphasis is mine]
I understand where the author at BlackDoctor.org is headed with his advice, but there is a problem here. We don’t define who we are! Period. Those around us define us, so we must carefully select our friends and acquaintances. They will correct us whenever we do something stupid. They give us corrections all the time, non-stop, and rightly so.
When we step out of line, we are told we are doing something wrong. We are shunned. We are told we are ignorant and wrong. Others will stop cooperating with us. People think we are disgusting and tell us or show us their behavior. While in today’s society, that is less true because we fear being called a racist or some other derogatory name, it stands true that we should continue to surround ourselves with others who have our best interests.
This point is important. We don’t define who we are! And the sooner we realize it, the better. True enough, we should not let others stop us from aiming high for the best life we can make of it and making ourselves a better person. But our expectations may be unrealistic. If you are an 85-year-old, 4-foot woman, you will never be a linebacker on the Dallas Cowboys professional football team. And your friends, if they are good friends, will tell you that in no uncertain terms.
So, pay attention to the friends you can trust to be honest with you. That is one piece of advice left out here and a fundamental problem. However, the author hits on one of the most important, often dismissed pieces of advice: “Having God on your team means you have the greatest teammate.” He nailed it with that one.
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Thumbnail from the original article “13 Things My Dad Taught Me…” and can be found at: https://blackdoctor.org/things-my-dad-taught-me/
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However, the author hits on one of the most important, often dismissed pieces of advice: “Having God on your team means you have the greatest teammate.” He nailed it with that one. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Read this article by Gen. Satterfield and it will help you understand better:
“We Outsource our Sanity”
https://www.theleadermaker.com/we-outsource-our-sanity/
Be all you could be, not who you are. The latter is a path to destruction.
Yet, so many take the advice of amateurs like in this article. Raw Hide and Gen. Satterfield are correct. “Be all you can be” is an old military / Army recruiting slogan that was likely the best one ever in their efforts to get men to join. I say men because I meant “men” and not some pussy, rainbow flag waiving, nose ring retard that lives in his mama’s basement and spends all day on video games. Those are the lost and I have no qualms about calling them out for being traitors to America. Put them on a boat to Gaza and let them run amuck there and see who that works out. My random thoughts today.
Raw hide
Excellent comment
Hi folks, Eddie is back. Yeah!!!!!!
FINALLY, I understand what Gen. Satterfield is getting at ….
NOPE = “13. Be Yourself. It’s up to you to define who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you what specific things you can or can’t do because you’re a man or a woman. If you want to be a surgeon, go for it. If you want to cook, cook. If you want to build something, be careful and don’t hit your finger with the hammer. If something needs to be cleaned, clean. Do you.”
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Be who you could be, not who your miserable self is today.
Another excellent article from Gen. Satterfield. But the point is that we are who we surround ourselves with. So, get good friends and reject those who do not have our best interests at heart. Hard to do? Maybe so, but that is what being a responsible human is about. Better to have no friends than to have good friends.
Well said, Lou.
Some people are very shy and to them selves. They don’t like a crowd of people. So who defined those people, other can’t because they don’t fit in. You hold yourself back from achievement. It’s the man or woman in the mirror. I do agree with the closing point that God who created mankind is qualified to define who we are.
We are marvelous created by God.
Isiah 43:7 states
Every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” This simply means that the good that people may see in us, in our conduct, our work, and our accomplishments, is designed to point to the grace, mercy, and Lordship of God, who truly is the
creator.
Gen. Satterfield, spot on, once again. Yep, the last message a young kid who is struggling wants to hear is that he should “just be himself,” because being himself is what is making him struggle. He wants to hear and see what it’s like to do BETTER. I read this article, and it is okay. But Gen. S. points out the major flaw. And rightly so.
Well said Krause
Well said and classic Dr. Jordan Peterson.
Yes, and as Gen. Satterfield quotes him often and has told us that his articles are heavily influenced by Dr. Peterson. I and many others are big fans of Dr. P. and Gen. S. and understand where both of them are coming from. I think it is personal responsibility that underpins much of their thinking, and that is okay with me. This is so much unlike the victimhood of the current progressive leftists that our non-president Joe Biden encourages.
PW, yep. Exactly as I was thinking. 👍👍👍👍👍
Dr. Peterson and Gen. Satterfield are DA MEN!!!!!!!
👍🎉😂🤦♀️😀😎❤✌👏✔👀😁
Da Man, you’re killing me with the emojis. 🙂