"What is a man"

sounds like "what is a good definition of a man in our society by which we can judge him as a higher quality example of the gender compared to others." Whew.

As I've grown in life, I find that our spirit/soul has no gender. We learn what is acceptable, good and decent from our upbringing. We label people with good attributes as well as bad and select those who we deem more acceptable and ignore those not as acceptable. So, asking what is a man to me is saying "I want to discuss acceptable men - let's talk about what makes a good man good". Or - what is a good person. The same aspects of a "good" man is also found in "good" women.

Have you ever looked at a 'bad' man with empathy? A bum on the street - have you seen him as a human being? If so, then you are seeing a man. I see a man who has had hardships, been ignored, labeled and hurt by society. Yet still a man.

Women used to look at "role models" like Tom Selleck on Magnum P.I. as their definition of a real man. Strong, but caring, etc. You probably wouldn't label Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubens) the same as Tom Selleck - but both are actors, made good money and both men. You've probably been trained by society to gravitate towards the Tom figure than the Pee Wee. (I'm getting a chuckle out of this comparison).

Do you see my thinking here? When we stop labeling people, we can start to see the spirit in all humans no matter if they are great or not. The only problem is - are we willing to work with and help cure their baggage to let them find their true calling in life?

I heard a great line on a talk show yesterday.

"The meaning of life is ... to live a meaningful life."