yesterday, my 5-year old grandson, charlie, fractured his tibia in what the docs say is an especially bad break. right before leaving the hospital last night, his parents (my daughter and son-in-law) snapped this photograph:
don't let the photo fool you - charlie was not a happy camper. he hurt like holy hell.
i posted this pic on my facebook page and without surprise, the comments came rolling in. but one of them stood out like a, well, like a sore thumb (up). i mean, like a sore leg:
"one step closer to being a man."
plenty of you are probably gonna go off all half-crazy with "what kind of sexist comment is that " but i couldn't be prouder of the man - john ashman - who made it. or of the boy - charlie bowman - whom (who?) he made it about.
john ashman knows that being a man has nothing to do with being macho. being a man has everything to do with going home at the end of a long day/night in the emergency room and being patient with your little siblings who want to jump all over your cast.
being a man is saying, with tears in his eyes, "i'm okay, grammy. i'm okay." and in so doing, is becoming okay.
john ashman knows that boys do not become men overnight. any more than girls become women overnight.
and he knows that the school of hard knocks toughens ya up - gender aside - better than any other school anybody has ever dreamed up.
john ashman has earned the second syllable of his last name.
charlie bowman is earning his.
