Tonight I was channel-surfing and broke into the middle of Spike Lee's masterpiece, "X." Now referred to as Malcolm X, the Movie. It was a particularly powerful scene, where Denzel Washington is explaining the role of family in the Nation of Islaam to his future wife. "If we're going to build a new nation we have to start with the woman, because the woman is the children's first teacher," or words pretty close to that.
Now, I read Malcolm X's autiobiography -- ghost-written with Alex Haley -- during college, and before I saw the film. It was a book that called to me from the shelves. Only a few books have done that. Most of them have been about black men. More on that another time. More on a LOT of things another time.
For years Malcolm X taught separation of races, believing it was necessary in order to rebuild a strong black family. He eventually retreated from that extremism. One thing he never softened on was the notion that the family is a separate and sacred unit, that a man was its leader and protector, and men should be willing to kill or die to defend their families.
I love Malcolm X. When I get to the afterlife I very much hope he isn't too busy to see me. I want to meet the great man.
Since I can remember, all I wanted to be was a man. As in "a real man." I have a lot of people tell me I'm smart enough or eloquent enough to "be" this or that. My professors at Weber State essentially drafted me into the journalism program after I wrote a few letters to the editor of the student paper. Even my shrink tells me I shouldn't be a truck driver: "With your intellect, you should be doing more than just manual labor."
But -- again, as long as I can remember -- I define being a man as someone who stands for what he believes, and more importantly that he provides for and protects his wife and family, and provides and example and lesson of godly living. Nothing else matters much compared to being a father and husband and leading a little group of people to salvation. And none of the spiritual stuff is possible if he isn't doing everything he can to materially provide for their legitimate needs.
I love real men. Malcolm Little was hyper-intelligent and a skilled hustler; Malcolm X was a man who simply used every faculty he had to do as much as he could, for what he believed was right.He wasn't an opulent provider, but he did provide, and he was a good father. And, like many great men, in the end he had to die on his feet facing his enemies. He took the blow on one cheek, held his ground, and took the next and fatal blow to his other cheek (not, as some interpreters of the Sermon on the Mount prescribe, by exposing his other cheeks during a blubbering, apologetic retreat).
I really don't give a hoot how I make my living. I do, however, want to raise a family and be free to do what's right. That means marrying an exceptional woman who will actually honor me for being a man. That almost certainly means not marrying one of today's Daughters of Zion. So you'll understand that I've searched far afield and begged God's help to find her. Which he has granted.
If that bothers some people who read this, it doesn't change the fact that everyone must find some way to stand in holy places, to opt out of a corrupt culture and create a holy place in which to stand. Mine will be another country where the government is corrupt, but only wants my money, not my children or my soul.
May you all find your own holy places, wherever they may be.
