Rest and revisit
Dear reader,
First off, a thank you to everyone new here. This project has grown larger than I could have imagined when I started writing. We are now approaching 260 strong. My attempt to write vulnerable, heartfelt, real pieces on what it means to grow into manhood and even to elderhood is resonating with many of you and I’m every day more energized to meet and talk with every one of you. I’m humbled.
This week has been filled with travel and an illness. We visited my parents and my children got to spend a week away from camps, school, and therapy, simply enjoying time away with their grandparents. It was a needed respite after the years of COVID isolation and moving far away from our families. As we returned, I got taken down by an infection which kept me in bed, delirious with fever, for nearly 48 hours. I’m only now coming out of the worst of it.
So I thought this week I would rest and revisit some of the better pieces on this Substack. These are some of the pieces I’m most proud of, and I think speak to what we’re trying to build together.
I hope you enjoy them. As always, please let me know what resonates and what you want to read more of.
And if you’re willing to share Get Real, Man, I’d be eternally grateful. Shares and likes help others find this newsletter as we keep growing.
What will you die for?
The year is 399 BC. The city, Athens. On this day, the society that invented philosophia – the love of wisdom – will kill its wisest man. Socrates’ relentless pursuit of truth was famous. The Oracle of Delphi couldn’t have been clearer: “No man is wiser than Socrates.” But for all his wisdom, he upset the wrong men. Whether…
Rumi's The Book of Love
How is it that you can read something once and never be the same again? My favorite poem comes from the Sufi mystic Rumi, in The Book of Love: A certain preacher always prays long and with enthusiasm for thieves and muggers that attack people on the street. “Let your mercy, O Lord,
Gods Among Men
I don’t share a lot of old stories. This project has always been about who I’m becoming, not who I was. I told myself I don’t want to be the person whose best years are behind him. So instead, I hid them away and wrote about what I’m learning and who I’m becoming. And hell, who really wants to hear about dumb things I did in airplanes anyways? Especiall…
Finding the line
In those rare silent moments of life, where my thoughts are free to go to my soul's darkest retreats, I often ponder what makes a good life and where mine lives against that ideal. A life stretched to its limits is not lived in peace and serenity. It involves feeling the extremes of emotions, with a good dose of self-examination and a backlog of tales t…
Hey Dad
Today is a very special day. As you read this, my daughter is turning five. Five years ago this little girl came into my world, and she instantly figured out what it means to have her dad wrapped around her pinky finger. Sometimes she even remembers to use that power for the forces of good. I didn’t write this piece for her birthday, but it was ready ju…
Three Hours
Why had god made a night this dark? Outside of the cockpit, the black night absorbed all light. It gave nothing in return, not even a trace of the horizon. Inside, the dim red instrument light (red light doesn’t overwhelm the rods in your eyes, allowing you to maintain night vision) only hinted at the crucial data those instruments told. Enough to see a…
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Rest is important! I hope your recovery continues well.