There are still some men of honour

As part of celebrating this year's Fathers Day, I read Edwin Louis Cole's Strong Men in Tough Times and found some illuminating insights I wish to share. You and I know the world is decaying at a worrying speed, and Louis Cole thinks it's because men are not standing up to be counted. The unruliness, the poverty, the tragedies, the immorality and all the ugliness are connected to the breakdown of strong pillars in society.

Members of the Men's Ministry of Makerere Full Gospel Church in a praise and worship session. Under the credo "iron sharpenth iron" they help each other to be the men God created them to be.

And Louis Cole argues that never has the call and need for strong men been greater as is today. Sadly, few are heeding the call seeing the majority are lost pursuing the big bucks than building society. They have been duped into believing the true definition of a man rotates around driving monster cars, owning lakeside bungalows, walking the red carpet and such hodgepodge.

The author puts it this way: "In the quest for self-fulfillment, self-awareness and self-gratification, masses of men have lost what it means to be a man, a hero, a leader. We have sold morality for economic privilege…in frustration we have succumbed to the stresses of eroded manhood and lost our ideals to immoral, illegal, unethical or irresponsible actions."

It's legitimate, of course, to want the fine things in life. But if the culture of materialism and consumerism gets us applying the Machiavellian principle of "ends and means" whereby integrity is hurled through the window and conscience ceases to poke us, a tragedy so voluminous is guaranteed. It's here that we observe a moment of silence.

But we shall do a U-turn instead. Because I believe not all men have been emasculated. Some out there are striving to be the leaders and heroes God created us to be; men that are not misusing their manhood. When I talk manhood I don’t mean the thing(s) between the legs! I’m talking about attributes like integrity, moral excellence, a God-fearing spirit, patience, political savvy, immeasurable courage, decisiveness and an inner strength by which a real man overcomes temptation and soars into greatness that changes the world.

These are the men the world is crying for. Strong men "who will overcome drifting philosophies and bring order, hope and dignity back to a world." That's the litmus test. Let the boys sit down, and the men rise up. Or should we gain the whole world here and now but lose our souls?