The Strength of a Man

I hear from men occasionally, asking me to remind people that men can be abused also.  Gentlemen, I am sorry that you were abused.  For the record, men and women can be both abusers and victims but I find the constant use of he/she as tedious to type as it is to read, and to be quite honest, I am not really writing about men, to men or from a man's point of view.  How can I?  Blogs are normally presented from the writer's point of view.  I am a woman.  I was abused by a man.  When I write, I imagine myself writing to other women just like me.  BUT if you men want to listen in, that's certainly okay, and if I share something that is helpful to you, that's even better.

It is not my purpose to concentrate on the abusers anyway ... male or female.  I write about things that helped me rebuild my life after the abuse because I think rebuilding is what we have to do.  It's like cleaning up after any other storm has passed through.  It's a natural part of the process.

I began to see that recovery and healing make us stronger people, and the healthier we are, the more likely we are to attract healthier people into our lives. 

I believe there are good people out there.  There are men of character and women of virtue.  They may have had challenges in their lives but they did what they had to do to get through them ... and grow past them ... just like we are doing now!  I have always admired strength, but I may have measured strength in the wrong way ...
 

The STRENGTH OF A MAN
 

The strength of a man isn't seen in the
Width of his shoulders ...
It's seen in the
Width of the arms that circle you.

The strength of a man isn't in the deep tone
Of this voice ...
It's in the gentle words he whispers.

   

The strength of a man isn't how many buddies
He has ...
It's how good a Buddy he is with his kids.

 

The strength of a man isn't in how respected
He is at work ...
It's in how respected he is at home.

   

The strength of a man
Isn't in how hard he hits ...
It's in how tender he touches.

The strength of a man
Isn't in the hair on his chest ...
It's in the heart that lies within his Chest.

   

The strength of a man
Isn't how many women he's Loved ...
It's in whether he
Can he be true to one woman.

  

The strength of a man
Isn't in the weight he can lift ...
It's in the burdens he can carry.