Strength

Dearest My Peeps,

Dictionary.com defines strength as:
1. the quality or state of being strong; bodily or muscular power; vigor.
2. mental power, force, or vigor.
3. moral power, firmness, or courage.
4. power by reason of influence, authority, resources, numbers, etc.
5. number, as of personnel or ships in a force or body: a regiment with a strength of 3000.
6. effective force, potency, or cogency, as of inducements or arguments: the strength of his plea.
7. power of resisting force, strain, wear, etc.
8. vigor of action, language, feeling, etc.
9. the effective or essential properties characteristic of a beverage, chemical, or the like: The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.
10. a particular proportion or concentration of these properties; intensity, as of light, color, sound, flavor, or odor: coffee of normal strength.
11. something or someone that gives one strength or is a source of power or encouragement; sustenance: The Bible was her strength and joy.
12. power to rise or remain firm in prices: Stocks continued to show strength. The pound declined in strength.

Strong is defined as:
1. having, showing, or able to exert great bodily or muscular power; physically vigorous or robust: a strong boy.
2. accompanied or delivered by great physical, mechanical, etc., power or force: a strong handshake; With one strong blow the machine stamped out a fender.
3. mentally powerful or vigorous: He may be old, but his mind is still strong.
4. especially able, competent, or powerful in a specific field or respect: She's very strong in mathematics. He's weak at bat, but he's a strong fielder.
5. of great moral power, firmness, or courage: strong under temptation.
6. powerful in influence, authority, resources, or means of prevailing or succeeding: a strong nation.
7. aggressive; willful: a strong personality.
8. of great force, effectiveness, potency, or cogency; compelling: strong reasons; strong arguments.
9. clear and firm; loud: He has a strong voice.
10. solid or stable; healthy; thriving: The banker predicted a strong economy.
11. well-supplied or rich in something specific: a strong hand in trumps.
12. having powerful means to resist attack, assault, or aggression: a strong fortress; a strong defense.
13. able to resist strain, force, wear, etc.: strong walls; strong cloth.
14. decisively unyielding; firm or uncompromising: She has strong views about the United Nations. He has a strong sense of duty.
15. fervent; zealous; thoroughgoing: He's a strong Democrat.
16. strenuous or energetic; vigorous: strong efforts.
17. moving or acting with force or vigor: strong winds.
18. distinct or marked; vivid, as impressions, resemblance or contrast: He bears a strong resemblance to his grandfather.
19. intense, as light or color.
20. having a large proportion of the effective or essential properties or ingredients; concentrated: strong tea.

You may be wondering what on earth I'm going on about now. Well you may. I'll stop your agonizings though, for I will tell you. I spent the evening with Pat tonight. I throughly enjoyed myself too , I might add. I always do though.

Anyhow, his roommate was home & somehow we got discussing strength and whether or not a man should be strong. Tania insisted that in today's day & age, men are supposed to be the weak ones, while I disagreed & said that men are supposed to be strong. I couldn't make her see my point & she couldn't make me see hers and eventually we kept going and talked about other things.

Thinking about it on the drive home, I better verbalized, in my head, how to say what I meant. I had come across as sounding very sexist, "Oh men are supposed to be the strong ones." but that wasn't my intention at all. Men are supposed to be strong, but so are women. Strength does not indicate superiority. Every person on this planet is supposed to be strong, man, woman & child. But there are different kinds of strength, as the long list of definitions from dictionary.com proves. The most commonly thought of strength is physical. But there is mental strength too, and emotional strength, and psychological strength, and moral strength.

It would be very sexist for me to say that men are supposed to be strong & women are supposed to be weak. Also not true. But at the same time, isn't it sexist to say that men are supposed to be weak and women are supposed to be strong? We're all created equal. One and the same. If you believe in creation, Eve was created from Adam's rib. Not from his heel, to be underneath him & inferior to him. Not from his skull, to be above him & superior to him. But from his rib, to be beside him & be equal to him.

So if men & women are created to be equal, both are to be strong. It's similar to bravery. Bravery is not the lack of fear, but acting in spite of the fear. Strength is not to be superior to another, but to be equal to them. Sure I'm bound to have strength that a guy wouldn't have, but at the same time, I have strength that another chick won't have. And sure a guy is going to have strength that I don't have, but he is also going to have strength that other guys don't have.

Strength doesn't always mean physical. Weak doesn't always mean physical either though. Men & women both are supposed to be able to take care of themselves & protect themselves & fend for themselves. But they are also supposed to be able to take care of their mate/loved ones, take care of their mate/loved ones & protect & fend for their mate/loved ones.

"A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others." That's a quote from Barnyard, one of the recent animated movie flicks. It's true too. But it doesn't just apply to men. It applies to all human kind.

Everyone has strength of one sort or another & everyone is supposed to be strong. Men too.

G'night my peeps. I'll shut up now. I'm sure you've gotten the gist of what I'm trying to say. I hope so at least. I tryed & if I keep on, it'll end up being babbling, and repetitive. Oh, and this used to be my brother's website. He has a poem on the title page about what a real man is. A real man is strong (whoa, deja vu, gracious me!) & that's simply the way it is. http://members.tripod.com/~dtmullin/dougmullin.html

Cheers to you! Cake & cookies too!
Vicky Ellen
"The rights of the weak are not weaker rights, but are completely equal to the rights of the strong." -Dionigi Tettamanzi