In all of the great stories, the hero is a man who rushes into the scene to protect and defend the beautiful damsel. The damsel is most often in some peril not of her choosing. The villain is usually a man who wants her for his own diabolical purposes. The hero will go through any trial, any challenge to help the lady to be free. He will do this without promise of reward and for no further purpose than to do the right thing.
We live in a world with a shortage of heroes. At the same time, we have more villains than ever before. We find ourselves in desperate times, a season that calls for the heroic heart to rise and change our world.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
What is it like being a man working with very hurting women? For 24 years now, I have heard the tales of horrific men and how they did not treat their ladies with honor and dignity. I was raised by a real man. My father taught me to honor women and to defend them to the last breath. No excuses. He shared with me a couple of years ago how difficult it was to keep encouraging me to never hit a girl. It seems the neighbor girls, who were a few years older than me, would beat me up, and I could do nothing about it because they were girls. Yet, he continued to teach, “Men don’t hit girls.”
It seems that the message to treat women well did not get much press in the rest of the world. The men we see around here look for opportunities to exploit and use women as property. This should not be. Where are the real men? Many lounge around the shelter waiting for their girlfriends to get housing instead of going out and looking for work. Recently, the boyfriend of one of our guests would take his girlfriend to busy intersections to panhandle because he figured people would give more to a woman. He literally would park his car and watch her collect money for him. This should not be.
Men, I dare you to treat a woman like royalty. The line from the movie, A Little Princess, “All little girls are princesses,” is true. Treat them like princesses and watch them blossom and begin to glow with beauty. There is nothing in the world more beautiful than a well-loved woman.
Women, demand to be treated well by the men that want to be with you. Expect him to treat you like a princess and if he fails, let him go. If enough women will rise up and demand to be well treated, more men will rise up to be real men.
