What determines when a boy becomes a man? Society has set many different guidelines for this throughout the ages. Some of them are based on age, ritual, and other such nonsense. I have my own guidelines. They are based on the commission of certain acts of "man behavior." Some examples of this would be:
Refusing to relinquish the television remote
A sudden inability to ask for or follow directions
Forgetting how to say the words "I'm sorry."
The other day, at the tender age of 13, my son, Mike, convinced me that he has in fact become a man. This is what happened.
I was driving him home from his Grandma's house when he said something to me that was so hurtful that at first I got mad as hell, then I just burst into tears. I remained sad and upset for the rest of the evening. Finally, Mike asked me what was wrong. I told him that what he had said to me in the car hurt my feelings much more than he could imagine. He looked at me strangely. I waited, and waited...
I am still waiting, several days later. No apology has come my way.
The boy has truly become a man!
