Knights and Princesses

Men are born to be knights, it's in our genes.

Most men have a strong desire to be heroic, brave, self-sacrificing providers. It defines men as men.

An illustration of that is how men live to a large degree for their families, and particularly for their ladies. Wanting to please, impress their women is why men work, fix houses, stay in shape, pursue careers. It isn't that men don't have ambitions or interests of their own, but for most, a desire to be seen by their women as strong, useful, resourceful, is a huge part of their motivation.

The old stereotype of women leading men to accomplish things is largely true. Moreover, I think it is good, the way things truly are and should be, political correctness notwithstanding.

I have come to see this first-hand as I am now single.

Whereas I used to occupy much of my time with home improvement projects, yard work, cleaning the house and various other tasks, I now have a very hard time motivating myself to do any of those. Even my hobbies have fallen by the wayside. I am no more lazy than I used to be, I just find myself asking "why"? What is the point of keeping my yard looking good? The fact is that I want someone to impress, someone to tell me how proud they are of me for keeping a clean kitchen, building a deck or shelves in the garage, how good my homemade bread, beer and yogurt is. There are some who undoubtedly see this as a weakness, why can't I just want to do those things on my own? I don't know, but that is who I am, and who I think a lot of men are, probably most.

I want to be someone's domestic knight, hunting down money, slaying bugs and spiders, driving away snakes, rescuing my yard from ugliness, my lady from screaming kids, and gallantly sacrificing my weekends to build sheds and paint siding. I want my woman to look up to me for my bravery and valour, industriousness and tenacity, honour and courage.

Fairy tales are not stories so much as reference manuals on how to be a real man.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a load of dirty laundry to conquer.