[quote]lostinthought wrote:
come on dude…is this question for real? I guess my answer to this would be, if you have to ask, you’ll never know. [/quote]
I think this is an elitist response. “I know what a man is and you don’t and I can’t explain it to you, so you’ll never make, too bad.”
Not saying this is what you meant, but it came off to me that way. People are not just born or grow up to inherently know what a man/woman/adult is. Yes some is certainly learned through experience. But if everything we needed to know we had to learn through experience, there would be no passing down of information and everyone would have similar skill sets. But that’s obviously not true, we learn from previous generations for all kinds of knowledge (scientific, political, ethical, etc) and this allows each generation to improve without having to start at the beginning. Yes, there is certain individuality and disagreement on certain characteristics of being a man, but you can’t start with more than just “you know it when you have it”. There must be some way to grow from outside help.
Since you don’t mean “Man” in a biological sense, that must mean you mean it in the philosophical/ethical sense. Therefore I suggest reading some books on ethics/morality. The most widely historical ethical/moral code for men was that of medieval knights. Honor, duty, protect the weak, truthfulness, etc. It may be most convenient to start there.
I’m not too sure on the philosophical different between men and women, but as for adults, here’s some morals/virtues I think necessary to be considered an adult:
Productiveness - you must work - create or provide a service - to sustain/provide for yourself and others of value to you. Otherwise you would be a leech. (Just so I’m clear - stay-at-home parents are providing a service - not all productivenss requires monetary compensation in order to be considered productive)
Pride - you must value yourself and work to better yourself and things that affect you. “You must acquire the values of character that make your life worth sustaining.”
Independence - accepting the responsibility of using your own judgement and that you are the only person who decides your course of action.
Integrity - never sacrificing your convictions to the opinions or wishes of others.
Honesty - never attempting to fake reality in any manner (delude yourself or others).
Justice - never seek or grant the undearned or undeserved, in matter or spirit.
These are my opinion, but that’s what you asked for. As far as experience that make a man, there aren’t really any. Living on your own apart from current friends and family is a good trial to learn more about yourself - but it’s not necessary in order to be considered a man - nor is heavy/hard manual labor.
pookie - hilarious list!