“..the glory of children are their fathers.”
Proverbs 17:6b Holy Bible KJV
Growing up I was a big Clint Eastwood fan. Mr. Eastwood looked just like my late-father and the roles Clint played on the silver screen my own father, in many ways, lived in real life. Dad was a 101st Airborne Ranger, a Screaming Eagle in the U.S. Army. Dad was also a U.S. Marine Corps soldier who went into Korea as part of an elite expeditionary force before the formal start of the war. Dad was the darling of the generals and was the intermediary between them and the rest of the ‘brass’ at the height of his military career. In many ways, though I did not serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, growing up with my father felt like I did. Dad was both tough and loving, disciplined and nurturing to my sisters and I. A man’s man. A dude’s dude.
Mr. Eastwood is well-known for his fatherhood and his acting roles as being tougher-than-nails, a champion of justice and righteousness, a protector of American principles, and a defender of the disadvantaged and voiceless. As I consider a portion of his legacy, I see that he always played manly roles and yet was able to bring a level of gravity to each part which made him approachable and very likable. In today’s common parlance, it is said that perhaps Mr. Eastwood was ‘getting in touch with his feminine side.’ This perspective attributes a ‘yin and yang’ to the male-female dichotomy and puts forth that their are feminine and masculine attributes in both men and women and that coming to terms with these is an evolutionary step forward that brings the human race to the next frontier. I disagree.
Let man be man, and let woman be woman. According to God’s Word, God made man from the dust and breathed life into him, then he fashioned woman out of his ribs and breathed life into her. Truly, the woman grows and carries a conceived child in her womb, yet it takes both man and woman to recreate and recreate. God then later said that the woman watches over the man, and that the man watches over the woman, yet that the man is the head of the family, but that he love his wife as God loves him, and so the playing field is made fair and just. Both come to terms and are to reverence and care for each other with love.
At no point in his Holy Word does God say let the woman or femininity have dominion over manhood to subjugate him into a lesser role than that prescribed by the Lord, Himself, nor does it say that man must go through a period of emasculation to right wrongs of the past. On the contrary, God sais time and time again that the man love and cherish the woman as God loves his children, and so it is that the woman is not subjugated either, but is upheld, protected and cared for with love and respect. She is not to be relegated to a corner, but is to champion her man and her man is to champion her. Nevertheless, God placed man as the head of the household.
Mr. Eastwood, like my father,in many ways symbolizes the ruggedness of manhood. His trail of movies as an actor and accomplished Director, across six decades of work, is testament to his vision and masculinity. In the times that we have viewed him acting a character with reflection, thoughtfulness, caringness, or with his guard down, have these been his more feminine moments? or have these simply been the full-expressions of just a heterosexual man being a man? a masculine human being, complex, rich in attributes and filled with emotional-depth?
I rest.
Comments