Let’s hear it for the boys

Glenn Beaton got it right in his recent article, “Manpower, doesn’t mean man power” (Feb. 4, 2017, The Aspen Times). He points out all the ways the word “man” is being distorted. I love the men in my life and love them being men: my husband, son, brothers, and father.

As a little girl, a woman neighbor threw hot water through a window at me and my girlfriend. We ran home to my father. He went to the neighbor’s home and demanded that her husband come out so he could beat him up. My father was a gentleman and would never hit a woman, although she was the person who threw the water. The doors to the neighbor’s house remained shut and I never had a problem again. The fact that my father was willing to stand up for me impressed both me and the neighbor.

Also as a little girl, my brothers caught me smoking. They said, “girls don’t do that” and whacked me a few times. They did not tell our parents of my run-in with cigarettes. With what is considered a sexist remark today, they saved me from a lifetime of disease and disability caused by smoking.

When my son was in eighth grade, he had a run-in with the class bully. The bully was menacing my second-grade daughter on the walk home from school. My son confronted him and ended up sitting on the bully’s chest making him promise to stay away from his sister. The bully continued in his ways and almost killed a classmate in high school. The injured boy was disabled and the bully went to jail.

My husband is a model man — strong, tough and loving. He worked as a FBI agent for many years and stood between the bad guys and the rest of us. He knows good from bad and is not afraid to voice the difference. He is the go-to guy when there is a problem. I always feel safe with him and know that he will protect me, our daughters and son, and other women and men.

So, I am not afraid of the word “man.” I embrace all the good men in the world and suggest to the women who want men to be like women: Wake up. Embrace the men in your life and appreciate their manliness.

Anne Baker

Basalt