I’m Thinking of Changing My Handle to Eric Stratton
English Teacher X, in a post that isn’t a tale of ribaldry, lays out why most men are not alphas. X does not put forth the normal arguments in the same way as have others and he does offer some cogent points that dovetail with my theory that it all comes down to leadership:
So doing “whatever you want, whenever you want” is pretty much the opposite of being a leader. There are a complex web of responsibilities and relationships that are navigated to get to that point.
You know who does whatever they want, whenever they want? Spoiled Western college kids with absentee fathers.
You know who does what they NEED to do?
Alpha males.
ALL people in a position of power or leadership reach that position by navigating a series of responsibilities and relationships with their superiors, their subordinates, their rivals, and their enemies. Sometimes violence and immorality will get to that point, sometimes not; but pure self-indulgence and irresponsibility?
No way.
Yeah, sure, once you ACHIEVE a position of power and responsibility, some self-indulgence probably comes with it —of course you get the best women and so forth. But that’s a RESULT, not a CAUSE.
That definition is too narrow, but it is more workable than some of I’ve seen and comes closer to capturing how men in full comport themselves. At the same time, it ignores the fact that leading one trollop to your bedroom is also a display of leadership.
But that’s not why we’re here.
No, we’re here for something else altogether, something mentioned in the comments to X’s post. What is the deal with the Greek alphabet and a focus on status instead of behaviors? That some dude is a rho and your dad is an epsilon while you are all about kappas is immaterial. This isn’t rush week.
Are you a man? Do you carry yourself as such? Are your actions consistent with your moral compass? Do your actions produce desirable results?
That is what life is about. Everything else is just noise. You can trust me, I was once pre-law.
All life is just noise.
Well that’s a despondent thing to say. Crashing from the sugar high caused by the chocolate body paints?
The stuff gave me a wicked headache . . .
So the world can accomodate every hard working man with a leadership position? I think not. Most hard-working responsible men who navigate their relationships and responsibilities carefully end up working for someone else in a meanial position helping to keep someone else in a position that they can occasionally be self-indulgent.
This is basic math. Everyone can’t be the CEO/President/Owner/Partner. Most people work for them.
The world cannot accommodate an infinite number of leaders in the traditional sense, but it can accommodate a large amount of men who exhibit leadership traits. Perhaps they only lead their wives or their families, but they still act authoritatively, regardless of scope.