The Lives of Men

Thankfully, generally speaking and for the most part, we men have simple dreams. We dream of waking up next to someone we love every morning, watching our kids grow up healthy, and balanced enough to make the right decisions on their own, paying off the mortgage, and still being able to climb a flight of stairs at fifty.

We do not dream of conquest and power, we do not dream of control and ruling with an iron fist, our dreams are simple, and that’s the way we like it.

No, I do not subscribe to Thoreau’s musing that most men live lives of quiet desperation. I think it just looks that way to someone whose aspirations are greater than their abilities. Most men don’t dream of power. Most men don’t dream of stardom, or influence, or sway, but then again, some do.

It’s the ones that dream of power that should never get it. It’s the ones that dream of control that should never be in a position to make decisions on behalf of others because the acquisition of a position of power always comes at a price. Those who forfeited family, friendships, love, and even their integrity in their quest for power, feel entitled to wield it with maximum force once they attain it.

They feel as though they’ve paid their dues, put in their time, crawled through mud and broken glass, and now have every right to tell you what you can eat, where you can live, how many children you can have, what you can drive, and anything and everything else, to the most minute of detail, such as how many squares of toilet tissue you should be able to use.

Long ago, when men were wiser and more even-tempered, our forefathers designed a system whereby the power the power-hungry craved would always be out of reach. Terms like checks and balances were fleshed out and then implemented so that nevermore would the average citizen with simple dreams be made a serf and slave to those who dreamt of power and control.

Leave me to my simple dreams! Wars were fought, blood was spilled, and lives were lost over this one simple but all-encompassing premise. Judge me as unmotivated, visionless, simpleminded, or simplistic if you will, but leave me to my simple dreams.

The clash between those who dream of power and control and those who just want to be left alone to work their jobs, love their God, and raise their children is inevitable. If there is one silver lining, one ray of hope, it’s that those scrambling for power are so incompetent and full of themselves, that they not only telegraph and describe in great detail how they dream of stripping you of your dreams but do so while you still have the ability to do something about it.

The lives of men are fleeting. Some choose God, peace, joy, love, family, and simplicity, while others go a different route. If we are unwilling to fight for the good with as much intensity as they are to fight for evil, we will lose. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.