Man Principles

Photo Courtesy of the ingenious minds of Eric Kallman
and Craig Allen, and used without permission
per my feeble interpretation of fair use laws.

The Man Principles:Also Referred to as the Three P’s

I learned this from an interesting guy I used to work with. Really fit into many of the things I was thinking at the time. I’ve expanded and elaborated on his basic premise. The idea is, a man’s purpose in life can be summed up by the follow.

• Protect 

• Provide 

• Procreate 

The order matters as well. The reason I feel this is important is because it’s very apparent to me that many people have bought into the modern dogma that they have to go out and get an education and a good job. While these things are important, they all fall under provide and ignore the order.

The rules I post from time to time are general things I've learned in life. I've found many of them fit into the three categories here in some way.

Protect - This is the category where you get to be the crazy gun toting coot that prepares for the end of the world, but that’s the idea taken to one extreme. More realistically, it means eating right, staying active and fit. If you don’t take care of yourself you are unable to protect. If you are dead because of some illness, you fail at protect. Things like hygiene fall in this category. There is no use worrying about the second two principles if this one is not in place.

Provide - This is where most guys start. Even if you build an empire to provide for your family and loved ones...it’s pointless if you can’t stop others from taking it away by force. This is the category were education and money making activities (notice I didn’t say job) fall. This is also the category where things like manners fit in. How you treat others and act in society is directly related to how people treat you. Showing common courtesy goes a long way.

Procreate - If you take care of the first two, this one will take care of itself. If you have successfully protected and provided for, some woman will notice despite your looks (beauty is only skin deep remember? works both ways).

I have recently become more aware of sex and race issues that plague our world. Not that they haven't always been there, just now I am enlightened. It has brought into question the sexist nature of my man principles.

After careful consideration, I'm going with "not sexist." Just like feminist promote equality of women, the man rules promote equality of everyone. Real men are not sexist, but recognize the different biological roles we play. You will notice these principles say to treat everyone courteously. It's not about "macho" it's about living my an established set of morals. Like anything, it could easily be contorted into something it's not.