Photo “Emerging Man” by Gordon Parks 1952.
My title and my feelings inside of me that made me think of it “The Emerging Man” come from my spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ. The experiences of my walk and the revealings he has done in my life that have shown me that I am not a man emerging from some mystical mist or “the dusky dusk”. But a man emerging from what is truly ‘battle smoke’.
So as a start to my writing I did a search on the web for “emerging man”. The results as usual were varied but the one that came up first and the most was the photo by Gordon Parks. I didn’t know Mr. Parks. So as part of my “emerging” I did some reading on Mr. Parks his work and watched a documentary on Youtube called: UNSTOPPABLE: A Conversation with: Melvin VAN PEEBLES, Gordon PARKS & Ossie DAVIS. Gordon Parks seems like a pretty cool dude. How come I never heard about him in high school?
- So as I emerge I am aware of some labels people have for people like me…
- uneducated, (no college, only one Technical College class)
- working poor
- unable to obtain
- going no where
- no talent or skills
- etc. etc.
Labels yes, but true? Yes. I would have to admit I fit those labels. So Mr. Parks has shown me how much emerging I really need to do and has given me another person to look at and study as far as being a man.
My awareness of being a man and what a man is and could be was sparked about five years ago and was helped along when I found  The Art Of Manliness by Brett and Kate McKay “Welcome to The Art of Manliness — a blog dedicated to uncovering the lost art of being a man.”
http://www.artofmanliness.com/
I have always had an inner conviction of what a man stood for; duty, discipline and honor. A personal “Esprit de corps!” if you will. Which was cultivated at the very early age of 2. My mom would tell me stories of how I would sit on her lap and listen to the radio shows “The Shadow Knows” and “The Lone Ranger” at that very tender age. Then later t.v., movie’s and comic books provided me with the characters who embodied the qualities of “duty, discipline and honor”.
My first memories are of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone courtesy of Walt Disney. I even wore a coonskin cap to the point that my older siblings still mention it at family get together’s.
Re-runs, what would we do without re-runs. Re-runs of “The Lone Ranger” t.v. show of the fifties with Clayton Moore, became “must see t.v. for me!”, I couldn’t miss it! For awhile there I was either barefoot or wearing cowboy boots. Happiness at the time was going to downtown New London to J&S Shoes and Boots to get a new pair of cowboy boots. For Christmas I would get spring actuated rocking horses that I would outfit with rifle scabbard, lasso (just mom’s clothesline) and bed roll. Parked right in front of the television. Then there was John Wayne movies and others like ‘The Legend Of The Golden Gun’, ‘Jeremiah Johnson’ and ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’. As a far east, aromatic incense, slightly lingering and hovering over all of this was a dragon, introduced through the t.v. western, by way of ‘Kung Fu’, speaking philosophy and kickin’ ass! ‘Enter The Dragon’, enter Bruce Lee. So here we had a culmination for my young spirit, of a person who embodied what I felt inside me.
I even had the poster on my wall that I won at the state fair. Â Â (photo courtesy of ebay)
So along with my westerns, historical american icons and my movie hero’s were comic books. Not a lot of comic books. We were to poor for me to really delve into any thing to deeply. At some point you had to start forking out the cash to become a real nerd, or fad follower and so the few subscriptions that my mom bought me for a birthday present would allow me to mentally escape my day to day into a world where “duty, discipline and honor” were recognized and applauded even by the hero’s arch enemy.
There is one hero in particular that caught my attention. And most everyone else’s. Being an outdoorsy kinda kid this hero had it all. He was brutal in a fight, had claws, was of ‘the north’, had a great sense of smell along with a healing factor and unbreakable bones! But also the mystery of the East. Emerging from the mist , of ‘the way of the warrior’, being of the Samurai. Doing what needed to be done but struggling with the inner conflict of being able to do what needed to be done.
So… I was John Wayne, Bruce Lee and Wolverine. In my mind a knight. With an angst so gripping I would question God himself as to his preferred timing for my life.
I absolutely yearn to be the guy who makes a last stand against overwhelming odds in order for a friend to “get the people to safety” or “I’ll hold em’ off while you get every one through the pass” or if the enemy is trying to cross the bridge and my job is to stop them, well then, “None shall pass!”.
In a 100lb frame. In a poverty stricken situation. Having a sense of being able to change my situation because of what I learned from my hero’s and their lessons, mostly the one where brains can get the better of sheer brawn. Poised for something but what?
But an enlightened path for me… was not to be.
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