Wile reading the third chapter of Michael Kimmels Guyland, a quote that particularly struck me was, “kindness is not and option, nor is compassion” (Kimmel 45). This struck me because I think that guys feel that they need to be “tough guys” or “bad ass”. Also I feel that guys feel that they cant show emotion and they can’t be kind because if they do then they are soft or a baby; however, some of the best men that I have ever met are ones that I a have seen cry and be emotional. Coach Murph was the scariest, knowledgeable, respectable and emotional hockey coaches I have ever had. I remember having the first day of tryouts of my junior year he came into the locker room in tears and not even embarrassed in the slightest bit because one of out junior varsity coaches was in a car crash. I also had the privilege to have coach Murph in class, there were many days where he would be telling stories and start to tear up because the stories he told were told with such emotion. Just because my coach cries and shows emotion doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a man, in fact it made all of us hockey players sacred of him because he loved the game with such passion and would not shy away from making you feel like a complete ass when you screwed up in practices or games.
Another passage that struck me was, “The guy code imposes a “code of silence on boys, requiring them to suffer without speaking of it and be silent witnesses to acts of cruelty to others” (61). I believe that this statement is to as to what its trying to portray, but I think that a real man would stick up for what is right, not just sit and watch cruel things happened because they are to scared to stick up for something that they believe in.
I feel with you about your hockey coach, I had the same kind of man as a football coach. Great men right there.
ReplyDeleteI like how you put that second paragraph. I would hope a real man wouldn't just sit in the background and watch bad things go on.
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