A long time ago, there was a man named Max who referred to me as an “it.” Apparently he thought that I was not a real man. Now I am not as strong as Max – few people are – but I’m in a better shape than most people my age, and I can hold my own
against most people. I am not the strongest man in the world, but neither am I the weakest. There will always be someone stronger than you, and there will always be someone weaker than you.

This leads me to a much more important subject. In recent years it’s been fashionable to portray one or another person as inadequate. These people don’t know what they are talking about. Bill Gates is not an adequate match for a gangster or a
terrorist. But Bill Gates is a billionaire, while most gangsters and terrorists are behind bars.

It would be expected that people will use what they are strong in to compensate for what they are weak in. If you have a weak body but a strong mind, it is expected that you will trade on your mind. If you have strong imagination or will but aren’t
good at logic, it is expected that you will trade on your imagination and will. Human species owes to this process everything that it has. No human being is an adequate match for a tiger; but people run the world and tigers are an endangered species.

There were people who portrayed me as inadequate. I am adequate at any number of things. So are most people whom they regard to be inadequate. Most people are good at some things and bad at others. And, once again, it is to be expected that people trade
on what they are good at as opposed to what they are bad at.

So there are many people – especially in the inner city and blue-collar communities - who want their sons to be macho. This is a stupid thing to do. In a country where violence is illegal, knowing how to beat people up will only lead you into trouble.
These people shouldn’t be telling their sons to be macho. They should be encouraging them in school and learning so that they can make something out of their lives.

I was the shortest and weakest kid in class, but I am now in a better shape than most people my age. I am not macho, but neither am I weak. Strength can be learned at any age, and a person who is not strong in his teenage years does not have to become a
weakling. Theodore Roosevelt was a nerd as a kid, but he became a very strong man. I want to see more people encouraging their children to do what they are good at, whether or not they become macho.

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