From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   A long time ago, there was a man named Max who referred to me as an “it.”   
   Apparently he thought that I was not a real man. Now I am not as strong as Max   
   – few people are – but I’m in a better shape than most people my age,   
   and I can hold my own    
   against most people. I am not the strongest man in the world, but neither am I   
   the weakest. There will always be someone stronger than you, and there will   
   always be someone weaker than you.   
      
   This leads me to a much more important subject. In recent years it’s been   
   fashionable to portray one or another person as inadequate. These people   
   don’t know what they are talking about. Bill Gates is not an adequate match   
   for a gangster or a    
   terrorist. But Bill Gates is a billionaire, while most gangsters and   
   terrorists are behind bars.   
      
   It would be expected that people will use what they are strong in to   
   compensate for what they are weak in. If you have a weak body but a strong   
   mind, it is expected that you will trade on your mind. If you have strong   
   imagination or will but aren’t    
   good at logic, it is expected that you will trade on your imagination and   
   will. Human species owes to this process everything that it has. No human   
   being is an adequate match for a tiger; but people run the world and tigers   
   are an endangered species.   
      
   There were people who portrayed me as inadequate. I am adequate at any number   
   of things. So are most people whom they regard to be inadequate. Most people   
   are good at some things and bad at others. And, once again, it is to be   
   expected that people trade    
   on what they are good at as opposed to what they are bad at.   
      
   So there are many people – especially in the inner city and blue-collar   
   communities - who want their sons to be macho. This is a stupid thing to do.   
   In a country where violence is illegal, knowing how to beat people up will   
   only lead you into trouble.    
   These people shouldn’t be telling their sons to be macho. They should be   
   encouraging them in school and learning so that they can make something out of   
   their lives.   
      
   I was the shortest and weakest kid in class, but I am now in a better shape   
   than most people my age. I am not macho, but neither am I weak. Strength can   
   be learned at any age, and a person who is not strong in his teenage years   
   does not have to become a    
   weakling. Theodore Roosevelt was a nerd as a kid, but he became a very strong   
   man. I want to see more people encouraging their children to do what they are   
   good at, whether or not they become macho.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)