![]() Something tragic had happened in his life and I'm not really sure what it was. There ain't no reason not to have a job in this town." You should come over for a beer sometime.Ĭuz I don't have enough time to get to the bathroom. I'm thinking about getting some one of these days. I see you have furniture in your apartment. People who don't work and live in the streets make me sick. I get to fly free because my sister works for the airline.Īin't no reason not to have a job in this town. He was lonely and figured I must be lonely as well. It meant classifying a human being as unworthy of my time. Instead he gave me a burning desire to avoid any future contact with him. Since I was new in town he wanted to give me some insight into life in Orlando. He slurred his words at some points and ranted angrily at others. He rambled on about several topics and repeated himself frequently. For almost an hour he engaged me in what can loosely be described as a conversation. He was holding a beer and staggering in his doorway. Two weeks into my time here, he came out of his apartment and greeted me. I became more concerned after I met Michael. As such, I have always labored to demonstrate to my neighbors that I am pleasant and friendly but that I do not want to develop any kind of relationship with them.īecause of the alignment of studio apartments in the apartment complex in which I am doing time, Michael and I shared a "common balcony." When I first moved into the apartment in 1997 I was concerned about this shared balcony. It upsets the delicate balance when people who live close by decide to stop by every day when I get home from work and come over uninvited on the weekends to soak up large blocks of my time because they believe they have an open invitation. I try to be pleasant towards them, say " good morning" when I walk by them, and offer a smile and a nod. Let’s roll.Throughout much of my adult life I have avoided becoming friendly with my neighbors. I hope that you will as well. If you’re ready for a new journey, one that will lead to a better marriage, better parenting, better fitness, a better career, and a better life experience, join me. I plan to take my family on a tremendous journey. We can be good men who are good at being men. We can incorporate traditional masculinity while rejecting the mistakes of the past. It’s time that we promote and reclaim these masculine virtues and apply them in our day. And the consequences are clear: more suicide, more depression, and more discontentment than ever before. As a result, most men have not developed their masculinity. It ignores the need for the masculine virtues of strength, courage, skillfulness, or honor. Our culture promotes comfort, pleasure, entertainment, and leisure. I’m convinced that when men are both good men and good at being men, women and children will also thrive. Most of us are good men, but it’s time for us to get better at being men. The life that society has tried to force us into is not working. There’s more to life than we’ve experienced. The strength, courage, and ability that sits inside of us can save the world. While many will tell you that men are the cause of the bulk of the world’s problems, I tell you that we will be its salvation. I’m here because I want to exchange the good for the great. I’m Stephen Marshall, an attorney, a husband of over 20 years, and a father of four. We feel the “quiet desperation” that Thoreau observed. Our families, our careers, our health, and our accomplishments are not what we envisioned. We’ve become too comfortable, too safe, too scared, too stable, too fat, too busy, too bored, too depressed, and too insignificant. We have good jobs, good wives, and good kids.īut when we get a moment to reflect, we realize that we’ve given up on our dreams. I don’t mean we haven’t been generally successful, because we have. For too many of us, things didn’t quite work out like that. ![]() We intended to take life by storm and dominate it. Thoreau famously wrote that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Despite our advancements in civilization and technology since Thoreau’s day, his words still speak deeply to many men today. ![]()
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