From the begining man has been a key part to the strength of the family. Over the years man has become weakend allowing the foundation of the family life to crumble. To be the man that you were created to be you must stand up and get your power back. As a man you are to provide strength, wisdom and leadership.

At some point we have failed the men who came before us. Your grandfather and uncles passed the knowledge to you to train the next generation of men. Many of our young men are still stuck in their boy phases. To change life as it is known starts within ones mind. If you are unhappy about a situation or disappointed in the things that are in your reach it all begins with you.

I had a conversation with one of my neighbors a couple of weeks ago. I was relaying my thoughts on the disappointment I had in the young boys walking down the streets in their sagging pants. I felt helpless on the situation and told my neighbor, "There is nothing I can do". The thought pattern that I displayed was wrong. I am a man; my creator has given me the tools to make the things I speak a reality. I can change anything I want and so can you. Sagging pants are an expression of wanting to belong. If I'm tired of seeing those pants all I have to do is train these boys that there is something larger in life that they can belong to.

This is a letter to all men asking them to empower boys to build their foundation by providing strength, wisdom and leadership. If this letter has found you this is a chance for you to make a change in your inner circle.

Just so we are clear a "boy" is not based on age. A man of the age forty can still be considered a boy due to his childish thinking. This boy will not become a man until he puts the childish thinking behind him.

The following are definitions from www.Webster.com.

Strength
The quality or state of being strong: capacity for exertion or endurance.

Wisdom
A wise attitude, belief, or course of action.
The teachings of the ancient wise men.

Leadership
Capacity to lead

As a man no matter how bad life may be kicking you always display your strength. I grew up in a single parent house hold and I had a mother who always displayed the characteristic of Strength. She knew the odds were against her but she battled every day to make sure she provided for my sister and me. Through all of the years of growing up I only saw my mother cry one time. The only reason I saw her cry that one time was because she forgot to shut the door to the bathroom that day. At twelve years old I came face to face with how my mother portrayed strength. When life was kicking my mother she went into the bathroom and cried for a couple of minutes. When she was done crying she would come out and start fighting life again. She fought life through the teachings that she installed into me as a young boy. Now, I know you're thinking wait a minute Jhasmal I thought this article was about the teaching of men. It is... Without my grandfather passing his teachings down to my mother they would have never reached me. When life is kicking me a little too hard I go into the bathroom and shut the door and cry. When I come back out I am ready to do battle because I have a wife and daughter to take care of. While I'm in the bathroom I also ask for guidance.

Yes, as a man I do cry...

When you cry it uncovers your weaknesses. If you don't know your weaknesses you don't know how to build them up to be a strength. Also if you are crying it is a form of being broken. If you have not been broken you cannot be healed.

Wisdom is a big one...

When you were younger did you ever do something you weren't supposed to and someone said, "I'm not going to tell you not to do that again?" This small saying is one way that wisdom was portrayed. Your elder knew the outcome but they had to let you learn it on your own. They knew you would fall but they had to let you experience it for yourself. This is one of the building blocks for creating a foundation. Wisdom was also displayed by men who sat with their young sons and daughters on porches after providing discipline. I can remember sitting on the porch of my grandmother's house with my uncles. It felt like we were sitting there for hours while I had to listen to the lecture of how I misbehaved or did a bad thing. I didn't realize it at the time but those lectures were the best thing that ever happened to me. At that time I thought my uncles were just the meanest guys put here to make my life miserable. When I go to the grocery store and I see a child throwing tantrums in the store I can tell that they've never had to sit on the porch and hear those lectures. Once you hear one of those lectures you will never forget it.

We live in a world where education institutions are afraid of being sued for disciplining children. A child is at school for basically eight hours and no one is willing to discipline them. This is why it is so crucial that all men help to build the foundation. If the foundation is week the structure will be destroyed. In all of my years I had never seen children who are shooting other children in schools. Either we can sit and hear about it on the news or we can step up and do something about it. This is one issue that I find very disturbing because this is my generations boy who is holding the gun doing the shooting. At some point we failed these young men - we should have been able to reach them before they chose this path.

Leaders can be good and leaders can be bad. Whether you want to become a leader or not, it doesn't matter. In some child's eyes you are a leader. You are the closest thing to them as a role model. They will mimic the things that you do in order to be like you. This is a perfect opportunity for you to start building the foundation at this stage. We confuse leaders as being the President, CEO or our Pastors. The reality is that a child cannot relate to these types of individuals in life. These people are so far beyond the realities of this child's day to day life. The life of a child is more chaotic and scary because they are living in one parent homes, struggling with poverty, being picked on by their friends and dealing with drugs. When this child is face to face with the enemy he is not reciting a scripture. If the child understood the powers of scriptures and the word of our father he probably wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

In closing I want to leave you with something that my uncle used to tell me.

"I can't make you be a man but I can teach you the tools to be a man and it is up to you to use them."

Jhasmal Hardyway