What a man is..

Article from an inmate : http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/

As I was reading this article, I had second thoughts on whether this was actually a letter of an inmate; it seemed more like those articles that give advices for men to be successful in relationships. Even so, it really touched me that all the points written in this article is true and spot-on, and were actually realized by an inmate when he is doing his time.

I completely agree with the inmate; why do people only change when something dramatic happens in their life? Why can't they just admit that they were wrong and change to be better without the need of a dramatic event? Even though the latter seems to be the better option, most of us only do change when something finally happens; usually a traumatic experience.

It is difficult to change. No matter what type of change it may be; finally eating your greens or finally managing your anger, it all requires a huge amount of innovation and emotional strength, where we most often lack off. I myself would admit that I still have bad habits that I would like to change, but changing just the very next second is not humanly possible.



Even so, I still do believe change is not easy, but possible. It WILL require a lot of emotional strength and support, and it also requires a lot of our effort as well. Truth be told, if we have the intentions to change and try our very best to do so, He will help us along the way. We should never give up on trying to improve ourselves even though sometimes it takes years for us to achieve what we want. We will never know that maybe, on the 99th day of our effort we gave up, when He will actually grant our wish to change on the 100th day. So we should never give up trying, never give up hoping, and have faith in Him :)

I could go on and on describing about recognizing what women wants from a man. But I could simply say that men also have fairly similar needs from women; attention, trust and love.

However, I would agree with what the inmate has mentioned; regarding what he has learned about what women wants from men, mostly from the video. As we have watched in class, music videos show the wrong idea of women only wanting sex and money from men, and that they enjoy being treated as a sex object within the videos when the reality is the direct opposite. Newspapers, magazines, televisions and films are doing the same exact thing to our society as well. Men are always portrayed to be the stronger and more masculine figure, while women are more feminine, submissive and passive.

Now, there are exceptions to these claims where in some films, women are the 'heroes' and saves the day. But you could almost always find both genders more in their traditional roles and gender stereotypes.
Once again, it is hard for the media to CHANGE to portray the reality of life unless they would see it to be profitable. Even so, there is still hope that one day all of these would change for the better, with people who are becoming more aware of our surroundings.



Changing, will never be easy. The important people around us could sometimes even be the main reason why it is so hard for us to change, as well as the society. Our friends would sometimes critisize us: "He/She is a horrible person!". And when we finally do change, the same people would give discouraging comments: "He/She is just putting up an act. Remember how he/she was before?"

I hope that everyone would realize that in this world, we could NEVER satisfy everyone. If you would want to change, do it for yourself, for your loved ones that supports you, and for Him. If you set your goals on changing to satisfy everyone, you will never find yourself be able to change completely, or perhaps if you do change, you will never be happy. Do it for yourself, for your loved ones who supports you, and for Him. As only these people and God will be able to see the change in you :)


Learn from the past, do your best in the present, for the better future. Don't judge a person based on his or her past, but judge based on what he or she is doing and has become. Spread the love, as we do not have time to hate :)