Man up / Man Down XI. West Point

(Hail, Alma Mater, dear!

To us be ever near...) I was at West Point,

an auditorium full of cadets,

(Help us thy motto bear,

Thru all the years.) and I asked them,

“What does it mean to be a good man? (Let Duty be well performed.

Honor be e’er untarn’d.) You wake up in the morning,

you look in the mirror, and you say to yourself, ‘You’re a good man.

(Country be ever armed,

West Point, by thee!) You’re a good man.

What does that mean?”

Here’s what they said (now this is West Point):

“Honor, duty, integrity, sacrifice, do the right thing,

stand up for the little guy,

be a provider,

be a protector.

l asked, “Where did you learn that?”

And they said,

“Well, it’s everywhere.

It’s our culture, it’s Homeric, it’s Shakespearean,

it’s the Judeo-Christian heritage. “So, that’s what it means to be a good man.

tell me if those show up for you when I say this: ‘Man up, be a real man.’”

“Oh no, that’s completely different. And they said,

“Tough, strong, never show weakness, win at all costs, suck it up,

play through pain, be competitive,

get rich, get laid.

I said. “Where did you learn that?”

And they said, in order,

“My father, my coach, my guy friends, my older brother.”