My beautiful wife, Kjerstin, and I don't yet have a name for him, but he is alive and he is healthy and that's all that matters right now. Ever since the technician gelled up Kjerstin's tummy and we finally saw the plumbing of my little clone I've given even more serious thought to the nature of masculinity. It is the parents' duty to mold and influence their children by love and example. It naturally follows that a father's calling is to show his sons how to be men. But what manner of men?

I call to the stand those responsible for helping me become, what I consider, a half-way decent man. First, naturally, is my father. My father has always worked his fingers to the bone to provide for his family. The picture of unconditional love, he never, and I mean never, let me think that any choice I could ever make would change his love for me. He, along with a couple of my grandfathers, showed me by example what it means to live with integrity and honor. I am able to see these traits in large part because I have been blessed, ever since I was young, with truly great friends. Jeremy, Nate, and Eric have shown me what it means to be a good friend. But more importantly, they have all, in their own unique ways, shown me what real men ought to be. Strength, integrity, loyalty, compassion, courage, dedication, honoring the sanctity of women, etc., etc. I could literally go on and on. But I don't have to because they know what they are to me, and what they helped save me from.

Because of all these influences I am able to see the virtues of manliness. I find it ironic that two of my favorite literative works concerning manly virtues are poems. One is "If-" by Rudyard Kipling and the other is "Invictus" by W.E. Henley. Supposedly they are both considered cliche in the U.K., but all that says to me is that, not only am I right about mainstream manliness taking a terrifying plunge, I'm probably right about it starting in Europe.

Men of the world Unite!