Judgement of a Man - Poem

Judge a man not on his accomplishments in his field of study nor by the fleeting greatness that the world bestows upon his mortal head.

Don’t judge a man by his wealth, for the stocks he buys, or the gold he accumulates.

Not by his strength on the field of the sport he chooses, his speedy legs, or his enormous arms.

Ignore his oratory skills that can lead a nation in and out of war.

The charm that lights up a room and makes believers of us all.

Don’t look at his grades or his so-called knowledge.

Whether in history, math, or science.

Don’t judge a man by the acts that he commits as a man.

Judge a man by how he respects his mother.

That is the true measure of a man.

Men disrespect women all the time.

They call them bad words, which will not be mentioned here.

They scheme to use them only for pleasure.

And some low-lives flat-out abuse women, treating them as nothing more than second-class citizens.

But not the mother.

A real man never disrespects his own mother.

For all men know that his mother is special in his eyes.

She is the caretaker of his madness.

She is his cushion from the harsh, cruel world.

She is the one who loved him first.

All other women are sought after by a man.

The man tries to win them over.

He uses his obscure accomplishments, questionable wealth, and alluring charm to impress women that he is of their worthy company.

But not his mother.

She gave him a love that no other woman could.

A love he neither earned nor deserved.

The mother is not the true love of the son.

She has a husband for that.

A mother loves his son for no other reason than that is what she knows.

She gives of herself for her son, even though he can’t give anything back in return.

Will this man have great feats that change the world?

Will he earn great wealth for future generations?

Will his strength fill stadiums for fans across towns?

No…

He won’t.

The son of a mother is an average man, ignored in history books and disregarded by society.

They are our world's office clerks and menial workers, producing nothing of insight or quality.

Yet, the mother still loves him.

She does not reject him for his futility.

She does not say he is not enough.

She loves him for the losing, broke, weak, stupid man that he is.

No other woman does that.

“I knew him before he was a man. Before the world got to him. Before he grew up. Before all of this, I knew him.”

That is what a mother says of her son.

Any man recognizes this in his own mother.

When the world thought nothing of you, who was the one woman who still loved you?

Your mother.

Respect a man for how much he respects his mother.

Real men know that his mother deserves his respect more than anyone else.