Many of you know I am a big baseball guy, so this story is especially cool!
Here is the example for all of us men to follow - an example from a young boy. Isaiah Jarvis gets hit in the head with a pitch during the Little League World Series. After walking to first in a bit of distress - probably fear of watching his young life flash before his eyes - he sees that the pitcher who hit him is also distressed. Instead of charging the mound in anger, after he gets to first, he walk to the mound in compassion for the pitcher who is shaken up. He consoles the pitcher, tells him he is doing great, while giving him a little hug, and then returns to first base.
How many of us have a heart that is forgiving to the point that we are able to look past unintentional wrongs and go above and beyond like this? The answer: not many of us. Admittedly, I felt a bit of shame watching this because there are many times in my life where I have not demonstrated a proper attitude to people who accidentally cut me off in traffic or inadvertently wrong me in any other way. 
Let's take a lesson from the game and from this young man. Put things into perspective and remember that it is another human being on the other side of the perceived wrong. Be quick to forgive, not quick to anger. I think I read that somewhere... ;)
Isaiah Jarvis: stand up young man! You are a real man.

Do not underestimate the power of Dad. Especially when your kids get to high school, you tend to start to feel...unappreciated, unneeded, and maybe even irrelevant in your child's life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Understand that most kids go through a stage where "Dad just doesn't understand." Maybe your kid never went through that stage and you have always been the superhero you were when they were 4 years old. Regardless, there is power in a dad. Don't quite believe me? Check out this video taken about a school in Louisiana where real dads stepped up and showed the power of presence. I won't wreck the video by explaining it, but it is just over 2 minutes, so not very long. (When you click the link, it will open in a new page.)
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www.instagram.com/tv/CVX6p6_rDdf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

As men, we often get ridiculed for trying to fix problems instead of just listening. This school is glad these men are men of action! Never be ashamed of being a man of action. This video got me really excited! It would be so easy to start something like this here if the need arose. 
Dads on Duty - please stand up! You are real men!
​Time for duty!

By now, I am sure everyone has heard of Brandt Jean. If not, you need to. This young man showed courage and faith beyond what I have ever seen anybody show, including grown men and pastors. At the sentencing of the female police officer who shot his brother in his own apartment, as he was watching TV and eating ice cream, he was one of several who took the stand to give a victim impact statement. Please watch the video below to see that statement. 
He has shown us what it means to have the heart of Jesus. For those of us who flip off drivers who cut us off in traffic, get angry at the person who is taking a long time at the cash register, desire to punch the snake at work who took our promotion, utter death threats towards our boss under our breath...think of Brandt Jean - and be ashamed.
Forgiveness is such an easy thing to talk about and to say we would totally be willing to do if we were in the situation, but when the time comes, could we? I dare say most of us could not. Brandt even went above and beyond. 
I suggest you have your kids watch this, to see what a real man - regardless of his age - acts like. I do not think you will get a better example of action to words in this lifetime. This young man is what it means to be a hero.
Stand up, Brandt Jean, stand tall - you are a REAL man!

​Even though I am a High School Guidance Counsellor and crusader against bullying, I realize that there is a reserved place for "schoolyard justice". Sometimes it is the only thing that works. I have taught my 10-year-old son that if he sees somebody hitting a girl, he can intervene in any way that makes it stop. Obviously, I tell him to use words first - but use of physical tactics is not out of the question, if needed. Similarly, both children know that they can defend themselves if they are getting physically hurt by someone. Now that we have that little confession in the open, let's use common sense.
The story speaks for itself, if you read the article below. A cop says he is trying to teach his son to fight back. OK, fair. That is a needed skill or you can get walked on your whole life. That is where the 'OK' ends. Taking your son to where the other boy is, encouraging him to fight the other boy, pushing him on the other boy, and then getting a shot in of your own? Buddy, please. There is no manliness in this officer of the law - yes, the offender was a cop (which isn't a shot against cops, just saying he knows better). 
It is a frightening thing when we see men behaving like children. Not just because they know better, but because they now have man's 'toys', like this police officer who has a gun or a road-rager in a heavy box made of metal and glass with a lot of horsepower. Ruben, grow up and be a man. You are not a man. You are a coward. We may often think of what we would like to do to someone who is bullying our children, but in the real world, we don't actually do it! Real men exhibit self-control and reason. That is part of what makes us men, otherwise, how are we different from young boys?
Sit down Ruben, (hopefully in the defendant's box), only the real men can stand - and you have a lot to learn, boy!


Dad teamed up with 13-year-old son to fight 'bully'

​An off-duty cop, allegedly trying to teach bullied son to fight back, was arrested for brawling alongside the boy in a scuffle with a 13-year-old student in the Bronx.
Ruben Caraballo, a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority cop, surrendered Friday afternoon to detectives at the 43d Precinct where he was charged with misdemeanor assault.
Caraballo, 36, allegedly punched the victim, Justin Harris, in the ribs as Justin and Caraballo’s 13-year-old son, also named Ruben, became embroiled across the street from the Bronx Mathematics Preparatory School in the Soundview section.
"Make him bleed!" Caraballo urged his son during the confrontation on White Plains Road, according to Sean Harris, the victim's father.
"He's been trying to teach his son to become a man, but I think he (Caraballo) needs to be taught a lesson as well," Sean Harris told The Daily News.
Harris, a building manager, said there had been a dustup between his son and Caraballo's son at the school about two weeks ago.
The hostilities apparently resumed Thursday afternoon when Caraballo and his wife appeared outside the school at dismissal time. "He was egging his son on to fight with Justin," Harris said.
According to Harris, after the two boys briefly scuffled, they broke apart, and Justin began walking away. Caraballo pushed his son on top of Justin, re-instigating the fighting, and then Caraballo allegedly threw a hard punch of his own at the youngster, striking him in the ribs, Harris said.
What Caraballo did was "cowardly," Harris said.
"I try to bring up my kids in an upstanding way. We must act like we have a sense of humanity, and not resolve things like he did," Harris said.
Harris’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the incident should be "an example to all adults.”
“No matter what position you hold, if you assault a 13-year-old child, you will be held accountable," Rubenstein said.
Caraballo did not identify himself as a cop at any time, and Justin only learned later that man fighting alongside the other boy was a law enforcement officer, said Harris.
An MTA spokeswoman said Caraballo has been with the agency since 2005. He remains on active duty but is restricted from carrying a firearm while the investigation continues.

I wonder how any of us could have passed this test at his age? Tim Tebow has become an object of ridicule in the media for many things - mostly due to his unwavering faith, and this one proved to be a boon for all the worldly reporters out there who don't understand that some people have moral compasses that are set differently than theirs. If you step back and consider that 30 or 40 years ago, Tebow would have been upheld as a poster boy for America for standing by his convictions (as opposed to Nick Jonas, it seems), it seems surreal that the vast majority of the world is mocking a man for not having sex with a woman who prowls on people with stated beliefs, just to see if she can break them.Fortunately, Miss Culpo couldn't break a real God's man. I guarantee the temptation was there - how could it not be? - but Tebow broke her spell. How? I would suggest that because he has never given in to this type of temptation, he was stronger in the face of the biggest test. Isn't that why studies continuously show that preserving yourself for marriage leads to an exponentially higher chance that your marriage will be successful? Isn't that why we are commanded to be pure? As James MacDonald states, "When God says 'don't', what he is really saying is 'don't hurt yourself'." I admired Tim Tebow before for all of the persecution he willingly accepted during his football playing days for unashamedly standing up for Christ, but this is a new level of admiration. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Tim Tebow, stand up and be counted - you are a real man!

Tim Tebow's Model Girlfriend Olivia Culpo Broke Up With Him Because He Wouldn't Have Sex 
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Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow has been cut by several NFL teams in recent years, but it's his unwillingness to score with his model girlfriend that may have gotten him dumped off the field.
A report in the NY Daily News this week said that Tebow's girlfriend Olivia Culpo sacked him after a two-month fling because he wouldn't have sex with her. Tebow has said for years that he is saving himself for marriage. But he was reportedly very interested in Culpo.
"He was really into her," a source told the News. "He was sending her love letters and cute notes and professing his love for her."
But when Tebow wasn't willing to make an exception to his long-running abstinence policy, it became too much for the former Miss USA to bear.
"She had to break up with him because she just couldn't handle it," the News's source said. "He still hits her up, but she just can't deal with the sex thing. He's pretty adamant about it, I guess." 
Interestingly, Culpo used to date singer Nick Jonas, who famously once wore a "promise ring", swearing himself off of sex before marriage. Culpo and Jonas started dating in the summer of 2013, and by September 2014 Jonas confirmed that he was no longer wearing the ring.
"This is a real growth in me and not something I'm doing anymore," Jonas said at the time. "But I've got my set of values, things that are important to me now at this point in my life and that's all that matters."
Because of that statement and others, It's been implied that Culpo took young Nick's V-card. But apparently, she couldn't pull off the feat with Tebow. At any rate, if this report is true, Culpo may want to select her next mate carefully, lest she get a reputation as a virgin hunter.
Sadly for Tebow, this isn't the first time he has split with a girlfriend over his chastity. He broke up with girlfriend Camilla Belle in 2009 and it was widely speculated at the time that Tebow's no sex policy bothered the Disney channel star.

OK, well there are a lot of things wrong with this one...but let's step aside from the obvious, such as the fact that this person is still a dude despite the caption in the photo that he is a trans woman, and that he has chosen to be six instead of his chronological age of 52. He has loving, adoptive parents and siblings now, so nobody is hurt in this. Wrong! Barely mentioned is his wife and seven children. There are at least eight people here who are hurt - and we won't even know how far reaching this will be to them for some time. But does Paul Woscht care? It seems not. After all, this is all about him. This is what he says makes him happy. Incidentally, I am almost inclined to agree that he really is a little girl, because a real man puts his own happiness and feelings aside for the benefit of his family. Real men don't just leave their wives and children because they "aren't happy". Happiness is not a deserved right. I love a line from my favourite music artist, Lecrae. In one of his songs, he says, "If we fought for our rights, we'd be in hell tonight." So true. As men, as fathers, we don't fight for our own happiness, but that of our families'. Funny thing is, we find that in doing so, we are happy.Paul Woscht, take a seat. Only the real men can stand up.

Fifty-Two Year-Old Man Lives As A Six Year-Old Girl. Seriously.
BY: AARON BANDLER
DECEMBER 9, 2015
A 52 year-old man is living as a six year-old girl. You read that right. 
The man, formerly known as a Paul Woscht but who now goes by Stefonknee, left his wife and seven children to go live as a little girl with adopted parents.
"I’ve moved forward now and I’ve gone back to being a child," Woscht said in an interview with The Daily Xtra. "I don’t want to be an adult right now, and I just live my life like I couldn’t when I was in school."
Originally, Woscht was going to live as an eight year-old, but his "sister" wanted Woscht to be the little sister, so Woscht decided to be six years old instead. 
"We have a great time," Woscht said in his naturally deep voice. "We color, we do kids stuff. It’s called play therapy. No medication, no suicide thoughts. And I just get to play."
Dr. Paul McHugh, a former psychiatrist-in-chief at John Hopkins Hospital, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that transgenderism is a "mental disorder" and that it is "biologically impossible" to carry out a true sex change. In fact, McHugh points out that "the suicide rate among transgendered people who had reassignment surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among non-transgender people." 

This article makes me feel sad for the featured individual.  He throws a hot dog at Tiger Woods because he wanted to do something "courageous and epic".  I bet he was the rebellious type when he was younger and actually ran with scissors, or worse, crossed his eyes for a long time, even though they might have frozen that way.
  Is this what courageous and epic have been boiled down to in people's minds?  For a man in his 30s to believe he was becoming some kind of a folk-hero for this immature silliness is laughable, but disturbing because he thinks a minor act like this is courageous, never mind epic.  Try watching the new movie "Courageous" by Sherwood Pictures and get a real idea of what it means to have courage.  Try being a real man and father by sacrificing your time, energy and resources for those who depend on you for love and support.  Try fighting in your country's military if you want to be courageous.  Try going to a third-world country and looking poverty, disease and death directly in the eye if you want to be courageous.  Try actually doing something that has significance or meaning in the broader scheme of things, like Ray Comfort.
  Comfort produced a 33-minute documentary called "180" (http://180movie.com/) in which he juxtaposes the Holocaust and abortion.  Do you think he will get any flak from that?  You bet he will, and already has, but he has also changed the hearts of numerous people towards abortion, and has already saved the lives of many unborn children, due to his video.  That takes courage, something that Comfort has tons of and knows a lot about.  I implore you to please watch this documentary.
So, courageous and epic?  I am glad the hot dog thrower immediately went down on the ground and put his hands behind his back, getting ready for arrest, because you are not a real man and must sit down, or lie down in your misguided, cowardly state.  Ray Comfort, on the other hand, please stand up - you are a real man!



Fan explains why he threw hot dog at Tiger Woods
The Associated Press 
PETALUMA, Calif. - A California man arrested for throwing a hot dog at Tiger Woods during a tournament said he wanted to do something "courageous and epic."
Brandon Kelly of Petaluma told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on Tuesday that he's a fan of Woods and got the idea after watching "Drive" - a recently released movie starring Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver.
"I threw the hot dog toward Tiger Woods because I was inspired by the movie 'Drive,'" Kelly said. "As soon as the movie ended, I thought to myself, 'I have to do something courageous and epic. I have to throw a hot dog on the green in front of Tiger.'"
The Santa Clara Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that the 31-year-old Kelly threw the wiener at Woods.
Kelly was arrested for disturbing the peace Sunday after yelling Woods' name and tossing a hot dog in his direction during the Frys.com Open in San Martin.
"When I looked up, the hot dog was already in the air," Woods said. "The bun was kind of disintegrating."
Woods backed off his birdie putt during the disturbance and ended up missing the 18-foot putt.
"Some guy just came running on the green, and he had a hot dog, and evidently ... I don't know how he tried to throw it, but I was kind of focusing on my putt when he started yelling," Woods said after the tournament. "Next thing I know, he laid on the ground, and looked like he wanted to be arrested because he ... put his hands behind his back and turned his head."
Kelly posted on his Facebook page Sunday morning a photo of a hot dog in his hand in front of his vehicle's steering wheel and speedometer, the newspaper reported.
Sgt. Jose Cardoza, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, said that Kelly's misdemeanouroffence would likely result in a fine and community service.

Here is an article on some "men".  I use that word loosely, because these guys have no characteristics of a real man.  Real men risk their lives to ensure the safety of women and children, but some of these guys were randomly shooting in a crowded place, totally unconcerned about the safety of others. Just looking at the picture, I can't help but shake my head in sadness and disbelief.  These are grown men, some of them look elderly!  Could you imagine that being your father or grandfather?!  These men even have "clubhouses".  I haven't had one of those since I was 8 years old.  I guess that is the difference, though.  Most of us grew up because we had direction in our lives, or at least a man there to help us find that direction - I would bet these guys didn't have the benefit of that.  This actually makes me feel sorry for them and chalk their reckless, childish behaviour up to ignorance.This shows the importance of real fatherhood.  William Pollock did a study of California gang members and found that not one single one of them had a positive male role model at home.  Zero.  That is more than co-incidence.  Let's remember that when it comes time to hang out with our kids.  Let's build them a clubhouse now, so they won't feel the need to join one when they are grown up!

Hell's Angels, please sit down.

Hell's Angels boss killed in casino gunfight between rival gangs during Nevada biker event
BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, September 25th 2011

Reno Gazette-Journal/AP
Officers keep detained several bikers at John Ascuaga's Nugget casino in Sparks, Nev., after a shooting that killed a Hell's Angels leader and wounded two others.
The leader of a California chapter of the Hells Angels was shot to death during a gunbattle between rival motorcycle gangs inside a Nevada casino that also wounded two others.
A fourth biker was wounded in a drive-by shooting hours after Friday night's shootout at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino, in what authorities suspect was revenge for the biker boss's murder.
Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, the chief of the biker gang's San Jose chapter, was killed in the casino mayhem while two members of Vagos motorcycle club were wounded.
Leonard Ramirez, 45, was shot in the stomach, and Diego Garcia, 28, was hit in the leg.
Both were reported to be in stable condition at a hospital in Reno. Security was tightened at the hospital to protect the men's safety.
The violence forced the city's mayor to declare a state of emergency and pull the plug on the annual Street Vibrations festival, an annual week-long festival that brings tens of thousands of bikers rumbling into Reno, Sparks and Virginia City every year.
"After the retaliation, it's just too tense of a situation," he said. "It's hard to say what's going to happen. It's just not worth the chance."
One Hell's Angel, Cesar Villagrana, 36, was arrested in connection with the casino brawl.
Sparks police said video surveillance showed the burly biker firing wildly into a crowd, sending terrified gamblers diving under card tables for cover.
Cops said they weren't sure if he hit anyone.
The second shooting occurred at 10:49 a.m. on Saturday.
The unidentified biker was riding down a street near a square that served as the center of the festival when he was shot in the stomach by a gunman riding in a black BMW with tinted windows, witnesses and police said.
His name and location were not released for his own protection, cops said.
Investigators in Sparks haven't linked the two incidents, but Martini told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the second attack was "definitely" revenge.
Witnesses said the incident at the Nugget after a fistfight broke out among Hell's Angels and Vagos members.
Joe Franco, of Reno, told the Reno Gazette-Journal he saw a Hells Angel member pull a pistol after getting punched in the face.
"He was down with the bloody nose, gets up and pulls out the gun, and that's the first shot," Franco told the paper.
The casino was evacuated and locked down on Saturday, but has since reopened