Getting High on Recovery

What is a Real Man?

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“Wanted: A Man of Steel. Please send photos of your abs and your junk.”

This is a real ad… it’s something I am writing about for an upcoming piece. What do you think about the questions:

• Is there such a thing as a Perfect Man… A Man of Steel?
• Is it a disappointing myth, a standard that leads to comparison and frustration?
• If a Man of Steel is a fraud, what then is a Real Man? … “A Man of Flab”? What makes a (Real) real man?

For inspiration, this is from one of my favorite books:

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

I’d love to hear your thoughts about any of these questions. You can respond in the comments or use Facebook to PM me with your thoughts. See you in the comments.

Keep it Real, Man of Steel.

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Photo courtesy of rogerebert.