If you can keep your head… It was a curious moment when my son’s 12 year old friend began to describe what he thought it was to be a man. He equated manhood to someone who has achieved a certain level of wealth and power. In his young mind, manhood was having a new car, a big house, and being the boss of himself and others. His conceptions are understandable, in a society that places a great deal of status on what we do for a living and what we own. It reminded me of a Rudyard Kipling poem titled ‘If--’. Although it is a bit stoic in some passages, it does give a time-tested and thought-provoking outline of manhood. It begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...” Hopefully, I helped broaden his definition by adding responsibility to family and community, honesty, integrity, keeping your word, respect for others, choosing right from wrong, charity, and kindness in speech and deed. …show more content…
Trudeau’s manhandling of the MPs came ahead of a vote to limit debate on the government's doctor-assisted dying bill. With allegations of assault being bantered about, Trudeau apologized repeatedly for the incident saying his behaviour was “unacceptable”. The incident does qualify as an assault –when a person intentionally uses force on another person without their consent– but it is unlikely the Prime Minister would ever be