Heroes Among Us
The definition of a Southern gentleman is a man who makes others feel more comfortable in his presence.
This is Danny Francisco, a 96-year-old WWII veteran who flew 50 successful missions over Europe as a tail-gunner in a B-17 warplane.
He recently had the chance to jump back in the same plane he fought at 18 years old in 1945.
Stories like his need to be told as veterans like him are the reason the world is free today.
He is a hero that lives among us, and there are plenty more in this great country.
Let's not lose sight of how wonderful America is and what it has always stood for.
Does America Still Produce Men?
The Musings of The Big Red Car:
Why the Hell do we want men anyway, Big Red Car?
Damn good question. In these days of voluntary gender assignment and re-assignment with unlimited Mulligans, do we even need men?
Who needs a man when sperm banks have such easy withdrawal policies?
We need men to create a balanced family unit with a good woman in order to create a solid nuclear family in which to raise the next generation and pass along healthy American and personal values.
Larger perspective — we cannot be a good country if we do not produce good men.
In that organizational unit, responsibilities can be assigned, burdens can be shared, and a child has a heightened probability of making it from the cradle to adulthood.
Children benefit from a constant example of what they should become.
Since the 1965 Moynihan Report, we have known that many of the ills in black America can be laid at the feet of absent fathers which means failed nuclear family units.
From a 30% level of cracked families in 1965, we have progressed to a level north of 75% and the problem is not getting better. [I am not making an argument in which race figures into the issue, but the Moynihan Report is a great signpost in this discussion as it spelled the nuclear family problem out so clearly 55 years ago.]
Even a man who decides not to mate brings to his world a sense of order if he has been raised to certain standards.
What the Hell is a man, Big Red Car?
We are tempted to mouth the dictionary definition mumbling some recognizable utterance about male qualities, masculinity, bravery, or strength.
As I use the notion, I am speaking of a male who adds to the world’s order, safety, and calm by his presence thereby making it a better place to live or visit. [I am convinced we have been visited by UFOs and persons from other planets.]
The definition of a Southern gentleman is a man who makes others feel more comfortable in his presence.
Building on that theme, I am looking for a man to be someone who sees the world with steely clarity and takes action to make it a better place in things both large and small.
The dark side of that same mirror might be the idea that this same man reduces the ugliness of life making it better by subtraction rather than addition.
Practical reality
I was once stuck in first class traveling a great distance in a silver tube that levitated me and a dead heading flight attendant for a long period of time. [I was working for an oil company building gargantuan projects separated by great distances and they had given me an Air Travel Card, a magical piece of red plastic that guaranteed me the best available seat on any flights of the largest airlines in the world. It was a wonderful bit of kit.]
She was an attractive woman; we had a nice meal; and there was wine though neither she nor I overindulged, but the loosening of one’s tongue can be accomplished on a single glass.
Somehow the discussion turned to what she “liked” in a man. I will certify to you that for an unattached, unmarried man, recently released from the bondage of military service, beginning my business career, looking sharp in a suit sporting a hand folded, 4 crisp points, Irish linen pocket square with rolled edges just like the dummies in the window at Brooks Brothers, I was quite interested in the conversation.
She said something like this:
How do we produce men, Big Red Car?
*Featured post photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash