It's an obvious right of passage to at least be able to grow some decent facial hair. Without it, Shia Labeouf would still just be that kid from Even Stevens, Jean-Claude Van Dam would just be some hard to understand french-ish guy with creepy ability to do the splits, and the 80's would've been deprived of the question "Does George Michael's stubble ever grow?". So i find myself in quite a situation...
I want to be a man. I mean, a hardcore, no nonsense, punch-you-in-the-face, MAN. But how manly can i be with this sad excuse for stubble? A buddy of mine, Jason King, built a blog that you can find on my list of following that he entitled "Growing Facial Hair: it's like playing dress up for guys... we act grown". I still love that and not just because it makes me feel better about my naked cheek, but because every guy hits a wall in his mid 20's where he finds it's time to grow up and every girl trying to find a guy in his mid 20's is struggling to pull one away from his Wii. So we're posed with a lot of questions... rather i should say there're a number questions that no one is asking. Number one being "What's wrong here?!" I'm noticing some big issues being dismissed as silly differences between boys and girls,. This isn't ok.
Men... boys, let's grow up. Let's stop asking the girl how far she's comfortable with going when we know how far is too far. Let's take initiative in setting boundaries in our relationships instead of deciding if we benefit enough from the boundaries we're letting everyone else set. This is sad, and i won't lose another brother to stupid and immature decisions. To fear of responsibility or inability to be a rock for his community because of a desire to have a cute hand to hold...
It's time we showed the qualities we were made for. Integrity to accompany our scruffy chins and bushy beards. A strong character to overshadow stereotypical habits. It's time we measured manliness in a new way. Men... boys, let's grow up.
