SECTION 2 - PG 5: MEN WHO ARE REAL MEN...

You wanna know something? 

You wanna know what I just LOVE?

                                     LOVE.

It is the most misused term known to man, 

and yet it is by FAR the most powerful.

______________________________________________________________________________

LOVE!

We toss that term about to the point it has become almost meaningless. 

I love YOU, but...

I ALSO love ice cream, pizza, Vodka, puppies, Kitties, and mountains. Bodies of water too, or bodies IN water.
I love the wet bikini briefs dudes wear to swim in and all the adjustments they have to make when exiting.

RIVETING LOL.

Only one of those can you actually sleep with, hold hands with, 
and feel REAL LOVE in return from. Kitties and puppies come close perhaps, but c'mon.

Now, I love all kinds of love when I see it. Men and women, girls and boys, girls and girls, and boys with boys. BUT, it is the MEN WITH MEN IN LOVE that makes me REALLY tingle.

You wanna know why? 
Of course you do, or you wouldn't have gotten this far.

It's not easy.

IT REALLY ISN'T. Even with all the evolution going on in the United States regarding LGBT rights, marriage equality, etc, and the problem with the society at large progressing FAR FASTER than the political class let alone the religious communities. Now, even they are evolving, however slowly to be sure.

But, it STILL is NOT easy being a gay man in America...
and if you are lucky enough to find your mate?

Yeh, hard. Hard, but beautiful.

A man and a woman in love is kewl. YEH, it is cause it represents a fundamental part of the human condition. Loving someone, loving another......means letting go of a bit of yourself to do so. KEWL.
Less selfishness, more selflessness is a GOOD thing.

Women and women. Yeh, Not easy but easier for some reason than men with men. Always has been easier and more accepted especially if they are not REALLY OVERT about it. Women have always danced with other women. Men, not so much in open society.

Ok, but here it is...

While it is getting easier in parts of America, and has been in some places for decades, there is something truly beautiful about men loving men. Again, I think in part because I understand how difficult the road has been.

I think it is more intense too. Because a man in love with another man is keenly aware of what he is up against in American Society, or any society for that matter. So if they are willing to deal with the difficulties, the looks, the snide remarks, the HATE speech, the bigotry and prejudice and snotty rhetoric especially by the Right, but even by their own families, THEN. THEN you got a man who is a REAL MAN. TOUGH, because you have to be to survive. 

NEVER MIND the extremes like the Matthew Shepard case. There is plenty of hate and stupidity and bigotry and menace to go around that can be pretty damn hurtful. I know guys who seem to sluff it off but do they? REALLY? Gotta hurt when you come out, fall in love, and then what ought to be the 

MOST BEAUTIFUL TIME OF YOUR LIFE...

 is marred by other peoples ignorance and prejudice..

ANYONE can love another of the same gender in private. Literally behind closed doors and in the closet but it takes a special kind of courage to just go FUCK IT. YOU do NOT own or dictate my life. 

I LOVE THIS DUDE... 

and FUCK YOU.

Easy for me? No, and it never was. Is now, but...

Well, you know.

When you look into that dude's eyes and see
EVERYTHING YOU VALUE, 

EVERYTHING YOU NEED, 

EVERYTHING YOU WANT...

EVERYTHING THAT TOUCHES YOU,

GRABS YOUR HEART,

AND FILLS YOUR LIFE WITH JOY...

then who in the fuck has the right to tell you no, that ain't kewl.

Short answer? NOBODY!

This is 2014 and YOU are the decider of your own destiny.

I say GO FOR IT!

IN AMERICA, IN CANADA, IN ENGLAND...PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN. WHEREVER.

Won't necessarily be easy, might even be dangerous...

but if Stonewall taught us anything it should be that
WHATEVER 

you have to do...

when it comes to your rights, IT IS WORTH IT!

LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL. MEN IN LOVE ARE ESPECIALLY SO,

FOR IT TAKES SO MUCH COURAGE TO BE OPEN WHEN 

IT REALLY SHOULDN'T BE

Okay, JUST REMEMBER. BEING A REAL MAN IS NOT DETERMINED BY HOW MANY POWER TOOLS YOU OWN, NOR HOW MANY F WORDS YOU CAN CRAM INTO A SENTENCE, NOR HOW FAR YOU CAN SPIT OR HOW LOW OR HOW TIGHT YOU CAN GET A PAIR OF LEVI'S BEFORE THEY CAUSE GANGRENE OR FALL OFF COMPLETELY.

BEING BOORISH, INSENSITIVE, AND A CLOD IS A CARICATURE, an apeing of what a man, a real man truly is.

MEN, WHO ARE AND WHO ARE COMFORTABLE IN THEIR MASCULINITY, CAN BE AND USUALLY ARE...COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO BE TENDER WITHOUT BEING SELF-CONCIOUS OR, GOD FORBID, GIGGLY.

To be gentle, tender, sensitive to your partners needs as well as the needs of others, kind to strangers and friends alike. Quick to smile, hug, and yes even kiss. ANOTHER MAN. 

OR A WOMAN, OR A CHILD.

TELLING ME TO KISS HIS ASS IS NOT QUITE THE SAME AS A GENTLE KISS ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD, thank you very much...or a quick smooch in the park.

Like I said, LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL. ALL LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL, and guys just do it better.

Cause it just isn't easy for them...and it seems more intense because it isn't.

ONE OF THESE DAYS it will be so common as to be unnoticeable, but in the meantime..

KUDO'S TO THOSE IN LOVE

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.