Have Courage!

The title of my blog reminds me of JPII. It's something he would say to the youth of today. I guess that could apply to my gist as well. One of my Friday night rituals, at least during the fall, is attending the football Mass. Every Friday after school, the football has Mass before the game. And every year those are the Masses that I hate to miss. I love getting to support my "boys" in this way; especially when I get to be an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minsiter. It makes me smile (even when I have to be girly to convince the "macho" senior boys to do the readings!).

FJ's homily today made me smile. He talked about the difference between "males" and "men," making the distinction that males do not need to have courage. Females, in the way that we are built, must have courage; our body demands it. Males, however, do not have the same distinction. Guys have to make a decision to be "men," to stand up for what they believe, to stand for anything at all.

I think this is what makes them so attractive. When I see a guy doing something that takes courage, it is extremely attractive. If they are striving for a goal or stepping out on a limb. It's also what makes me proud of some of my students. When I see them striving for this courage it just gives me a warm feeling inside. In one of my classes today we had a 10 minute conversation on texting. A few of the guys get together on Saturday and just hang out; they aren't allowed to text girls. This lead to the talking about "being" with people and how many have lost the beauty in this. Anyway, back to topic . . .

It feels to me (which doesn't necessarily mean anything) that many guys have lost the desire to be "men." Or not even lost the desire, just put it off until later. The idea that, "I don't need to be a man yet, I can be a guy and hang out and do what I want," seems to be prevalent. It would definitely explain why there are so many amazing single young women out there.

Someday I'll wake up and find that there is a man out there waiting for me, searching for me. I just hope that he doesn't get too lost up in being a guy along his way to me!