August 2015
As the story of Cecil the Lion dominated headlines last week, many used the incident to raise awareness for various causes, including animal rights, human rights, and many others. No matter where you found yourself on the spectrum of responses, it was nearly impossible to consider the process of hunting such an awe-inspiring beast and not feel…something.
One of the things that I’m most passionate about is the process of molding boys into men. And as I read the account of the hunt, my mind drifted to a story in which the concept of a lion hunt had a completely different connotation. As legend has it, the African Massi had a series of rituals which constituted a right of passage as a boy became a man. One of these requirements was that the boy must go outside the village and kill a lion using only his cunning wit and primitive weaponry. This incredible display of courage and skill would help to solidify his status as a man and a warrior among his people.
There’s little doubt that a Massi warrior would ever question his own validity as a man after navigating these rites of passage. In his culture, there was a defined process for transitioning from boy to man. And although their methods may seem primitive and even barbaric, I can’t help but think that maybe they grasped an important concept that we’ve ignored or underestimated the importance of: that true manhood is something that should be cultivated, valued, and passed on through intentional influence by the preceding generation. It’s not just the Massi: many other cultures have demonstrated a defined process through which a boy becomes a man. We see it in so many diverse cultures, from the Jewish culture to the Native American culture. I can’t help but wonder if we’ve failed as an American culture, even as the church in America, by not placing more of an emphasis on the process of molding boys into men.
Perhaps we’ve taken too much of an “organic” approach, thinking that the effective transition from boy to man will “just happen naturally.” When we consider the flaws in our own culture, one of the deficiencies seems to be the short supply of “real men.” And yet, how can we expect to produce “real men” when we haven’t even defined the process. When does a boy become a man? When he turns 18? When he gets married? When he buys a home? The startling reality is that we don’t KNOW when a boy becomes a man, so inevitably a young man is left wrestling with this question until he finally “feels” that he has arrived. This seems like a troublingly ambiguous process for such a critically important pillar of our society.
It seems as though this deficiency represents an incredible opportunity for the church to step in and bring vision and structure to this process. If we want to develop great men who are leaders, servants, protectors, and pillars of strength, then we can’t just hope that boys will grow up and one day everything will just “click.” We have to be intentional in the way that we raise our sons. We have to define manhood in order to reproduce it. We have to recognize that this rite of passage is difficult, yet it is also sacred and worth celebrating.
The Massi seemed to realize this. And although our methods will never be as extreme or barbaric as killing a lion, we can’t miss the unmistakable truth that there is a powerful value in establishing a rite of passage for a boy. There’s much to be gained for our culture and our society when we cultivate bravery, fierceness, and pride. It’s not so much about establishing a standard that boys must strive to reach: it’s more about inspiring our young men to challenge themselves to be champions within their own sphere of influence. I’d venture to guess that a young Massi who had killed a lion never had to sit staring into the night, wondering if he had what it takes. It’s my desire that our sons won’t have to wonder either. A shift is needed in the way that we raise our young men. True manhood is something that should be cultivated, valued, and passed on through intentional influence by the preceding generation. It’s time to stop “letting it happen,” and time to start being intentional about the way that we mold boys into men.
for underdogs & kings... 