As a survivor of the Baby Boomer generation, I think many of us were led astray by the pop psych matra, “It’s better to vent your feelings or they’ll explode like a pressure cooker.” Some years ago I found a better way, stop applying heat to it!!!!” Get over it. It’s a disappointment, not the end of the world.

Around the same time my father gave me some good advice when I was obsessing about something shortly after my divorce. He told me that every Alcoholics Anonymous meeting begins with the Serenity Prayer. After I thought about it, I realized there is a great deal of wisdom in those three lines:
Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things that I can;
And the Wisdom to know the difference.

I think one sure way to learn to keep your temper is see a video of yourself when you’re in full rant. Once you realized what you look like you’d never lose it again. Remember, James Bond (by this I mean Sean Connery) never lost his cool. For that matter, neither did Dr. Lecter.

Lots of good stuff here – I’ll be back.

I’d like to hear more about what you have in mind for re-visiting the BF virtues. Feel free to email me: brettmckay@gmail.com

I think I might start doing “Lessons in Manliness” posts on Mondays. Different snapshots of men in history doing the right thing. We’ll see.

@Santa-I actually always think the same thing about the “nails” story. True forgiveness can patch up the holes, almost like they were never there.

Thanks for a very well written post, one that I will refer to many times going forward.

Blessings