I Am Me

My secret was partially revealed in the “Three Stages of a Man’s Life”. It was a warm-hearted story that expressed my views that I’ve held to myself for sometime. It did not take long to create as it flowed from the heart. Not wanting to spoil the first, I will now expose the last instalment that flows from the first and from the heart.

The routes taken by a boy in his journey to becoming a man are many and varied. We start off in life nothing more than a cell. We develop over time, conditioned by events that make us or break us. During the early years we act like a sponge and take in what we learn from our fathers; hoping one day we’d be alike.

“Is it bad to be out of the same mold?”
Then one day a cataclysmic event, like a bolt from the blue, strikes us for better or worse. Testosterone and the wanting for our own independence kicks in. We are seen as rebellious by the ones that wish us to remain as we were. Have they forgotten, what it was like to be young? This event is universal and not unique to mere males.

“I am not my father; I am my fathers son; I am me.”
“Photo Courtesy of Crunchy Domestic Goddess”
Eventually we go our own way to seek the grass that’s greener on the other side of the fence. There are good times and bad as we struggle to cope. Isn’t that what life’s all about? Life’s little adventures are character building and good for the soul, so they say. At times we are tempted to return but our pride let’s us all down.
“Did we make the same mistakes as our fathers?"
"No, we just made our own. Will our sons be the same?”
We enjoy our single days; free to do what we like; free to go where we like. Until the heavens open up and strike us again. Fatherhood changes us overnight. Never properly prepared, through trail and error, we attempt to do our best. But is it enough? So the cycle goes full circle and we end up where our fathers first landed as dads.

“It’s hard being a dad and even harder being a son.”
To be continued...