Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Measure Of A Man (Or Woman)


I could blog about the debate tonight, which I'm watching as I write this... but, I'm about to do the "maverick" kind of thing and blog about something a little different (hats off to Sarah Palin). I was reading O.G.-The Original Glamazon's blog today and it got me to thinking about something. We are living in perilous economic times now and a lot of people are losing their jobs, can't buy that automobile they had their eye on, watching their 401K lose money, etc. This is causing a lot of people to question who they are and what they are.

My Grandmother once told me that "How you make your money should never get mixed up with who you are." At the time she said that, I considered it to be one more thing that old people said that didn't make any sense to me at all... but today, those words come back to me and they make an awful lot of sense. Right after I read O.G.'s blog, I read a horrifyingly unsettling story in the newspaper about a man in California who killed his wife, two children, mother-in-law, and then himself yesterday. The reason was... he had lost his job and was depressed.

Too many people are wrapped up in their job title or position, how much money they make, and how many "things" they have acquired. Their personality and their character seems to get lost somewhere in all of that. Half of Sean ("Puff Daddy", "Diddy", or whoever he is calling himself now of days) Combs's Bad Boy catalog is filled with songs that explain that a girl should be with (fill in the blank right here) because they have clothes, cars, jewels, and can take her on shopping sprees. For awhile, the entire hip-hop culture was built around the "bling". Unfortunately, the American economic reality is going to force people to dream different dreams. The hero of the day is not going to be the big "playa" but simply, the guy who can get through the day.

That's why I got to thinking about the things that are "recession proof", such as character. At the end of the day, all you may have is your integrity, honesty, loyalty, ability to love, and your willingness to work and provide for your spouse/lover and your children. That is going to be the measuring stick that a man will be judged by. I think guys are probably more guilty of this than women... that is, confusing who they are with where they work, how nice and up to date their car is, their position at the job, etc. That's why when they lose that job, if they lose that car or somebody gets a better car than theirs, they seemingly lose their minds. They don't know who they are anymore.

The American economic reality is going to force all of us to look deeper into ourselves. It's going to strip us to the bare essence of who we are and in the next couple of years, we are going to have to make some sacrifices regardless of WHO is in the White House. Hopefully, we'll find out something good about ourselves and be all the more better for it.

(This post is brought to you by the true "maverick" of bloggers!)

13 comments:

Blah Blah Blah said...

Maverick...something about that word that irritates me to no end...oh yea, it's a McCain slogan...lol

When I lost my job in March, I went into a phase of...WTE...even though I hated my job...it was still part of my definition as a person. Here it is 7 months later...and I have yet to start looking for a job...and a part of me is still missing definition...but not because of the lack of employment.
Going forward, I am sure that the nation is going to find other things to define who we are as a nation...as well as individual people...rather than the money maker-consumer-and lemme get mine before you do citizens that we were before.

Good read Keith.

Mizrepresent said...

I totally agree Keith, things are changing, and the only way to handle change is to change with it. No longer am i subject to last minute shopping sprees, nor do i aspire to have the next best car...i am making my living more simple...i haven't seen times like these since Reagan was in office, and these times are worse!

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

well said mr maverick

Don said...

You make a great point about something that I once thought about, but stopped because I felt I had overanalyzed inevitable pitfalls of our economy ... but apparently I didn't cause I see we share similar views.

I think everyone should expect more crime and acts of violence and even suicide due to people not being able to handle possibly losing (financially) everything.

Enjoyed the read.

SLC said...

Great points. If I'm broke on the inside, neither Obama or "THAT ONE" can fix me.
Maybe the present and future financial issues will enable people to prioritize better even if only because there is less stuff to take the focus off of God, family, and friends.

Me said...

Good post! So often we see people allow themselves to be defined by things they own (or lease). As a result we read in the papers what happens when it is taken away... they have a meltdown. Hopefully many will take this time to evaluate what really matters.

Anonymous said...

That was so on point Keith!

Anonymous said...

Ditto what Toni said!

OG, The Original Glamazon said...

Yes sir, character is what it really is ALL about. I think who a man is, even when they lose there way, will always surface in his darkest days.

You got learn to LOVE what him at his rawest!

Although I do think women must work on their character, I like to think I attract men of character because I have character. *lol*

Going home tomorrow for 10 days and a EXTRA long weekend with TOM A!

-OG

Anonymous said...

This is a very spiritual post good
brother.

DNLee said...

These times do make me think -- what can we do to get the things we need, the services we need and not spend money? or at least spend only pennies.

We depend so much on money beign available to do and get things. But money didn't always define human's abilities or capacity to eat, get shelter or clothing.

We've got to get to the basics and learn/utilize some basic survival skills...and I don't mean going Rambo. I mean working together with friends and neighbors. Sharing, cutting back on expenses, food and other extras.

Jazzy said...

Your grandmother is so right, but I can understand how people lose sight of self when most of us spend more waking hours at work than we do anywhere else.

Rich Fitzgerald said...

Bruh, when I went through a patch of unemployment in 2001 and was forced into self employment it taught me so much about the real measure of a man and friends. Hard times bring out the real essence of people. Please believe, there will be quite an awakening as things continue to go South in this economy. But guess what, I'll be standing tall no matter what, cause none of this "stuff" matters.




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