Rules That Make a Man

I subscribe to Men’s Health magazine for several reasons, including the ridiculous notion that one day I will have the time and resources to live the lifestyle that the magazine encourages and promotes. 

While that’s a real long shot I do like the stories, features, and scratch and sniff cologne samples that Men’s Health offers plus it’s a magazine that understands men and women are different which I’ve talked about for decades.  In a recent issue was an article on the Rules That Make A Man which the author suggests should serve as OUR commandments.

I’ve picked 16 of them and will leave it up to you to decide what the consequences are for breaking them.

1. Eat every apple you see.
2. Conflict is a forge.  Don’t seek it but don’t shy away from it…stand up for your principles.
3. Always wear shower shoes in locker rooms.  Enough said.
4. Never tell someone their setback is for the best.  That’s one I need to work on.
5. This isn’t the dress rehearsal.  In other words this is your life, live it.
6. You don’t have to like it to eat it.  Translation, if it doesn’t taste great but is good for you then eat it.
7. Women and children first.  Times may have changed but this rule should still apply with an asterisk and that has to do with your career, especially if someone in a skirt is looking to take you down.
8. Never enter a hotel room with a woman.  Of course unless she’s your wife or girlfriend.
9. Never use the word “frankly.”
10. Honor is the gift a man gives himself.  True nobility is exempt from fear.
11. If you’re not scared, you’re not going fast enough.  Forget about driving fast this is about living fast and pushing limits.  I have failed miserably.
12. Setbacks are part of the trip.
13. Never look at a menu for longer than 90 seconds.
14. If you can’t enjoy the contradictions, you’ll miss out on all the fun.  Don’t insist that everything has to make sense.
15. Be wary of toughness.  The truest men are tenderhearted, even if they don’t talk that way.
16. Thou Shalt Be Grateful.  The one that defines it all and yet maybe the most difficult.  So what are we grateful for?  Being a man of course with all that comes with it, including faster moving lines are restrooms in public places.