This is a comment by J Lindsay on the post “A Modern Day Hero’s Journey Is What Today’s Boy Needs to Become a Man“.
“Emerging from a quarter-life crisis of my own in the past year, I’m in agreement with your piece Mr. Gaddis. I’m 25 now, living on my own, and have been pushing my parents away from me lately as difficult as that has been. I’ve realized that the college boomerang I experienced, heartbreak, lay-offs, giving the drugs a break (nearly 7 months now), and finally moving into a place of my own have been steps in a process towards greater self-fulfillment.
“I’d agree that in our march to egalitarianism we as a society have lost sight of some basic truths of our being and natures. Young men need formal rites of passage. Young women need formal rites of passage. And neither needs to be irreverent of cultural circumstances on the local or general level. I wish I could describe in more detail appropriate ways to do so, but I only know the circumstances I’ve lived and it would be improper for me to proscribe my particular knowledge upon another’s experience.
“I am an Eagle Scout, and though I did it more for family than for myself I dare not deny the positive characteristics and skills it has imbued my person with. However, I would say that pushing a young man to seek for himself rather than seeking the safe bet my go a long way in reenergizing our culture and communities. I’m doing telesales now, and it’s teaching me interpersonal assertiveness and a talkative nature I’ve always lacked and shunned, respectively, and I grew up always hanging up on people doing what I myself do now!
“It’s challenging professionally and personally, and I’m grateful for it because it has been my decision. Yes I’m nearly broke, but in the effort to pay off my debts (student & credit) by the end of the year I’m thinking of making myself more broke in order to really light a fire under my ass to succeed. I need to dig out of my own hole, and that’s wickedly motivating. Toe the edge, good sirs, failure leads to the first step up.”
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