Lesson 2 – WHAT IS A MAN?
What is Man? What are the alternatives to “man”?
(When it is said, “Women and children first”, is that one category or two?)
A man is a human or a person who is free in his mind to understand and exercise reason – to be able to know what is right and what is wrong. A man is someone who is fully answerable for himself – for his thoughts, words, and deeds – to God and to his neighbor.
Examples of man in life and in imaginative literature must include single and married women, 11 year old orphans, 80 year old shamans, physically crippled, aged, and infirmed people, elves, dwarves, wizards, and the talking creatures in The Wind in the Willows, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Lion King, Star Wars, etc.
The alternative to man (being less than a man) is being a child, a beast, or a slave.
• A child becoming a man is called emancipation, which happens by statute or custom at a certain age, or by court order, but maybe ought to happen when a young person says, “Dad and Mom, thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I’m going to take it from here.” and means it.
• A slave becoming a man is called manumission when the enslaver frees the enslaved person, or an enslaved person might escape enslavement and become self-emancipated or free.
