I did my childhood in the 1940s
World War Two and its aftermath
My dad left our home for the Navy
But I still learned a lot about being a man
The most dramatic lesson
Men either kill or get killed
We observed this, of course, in the Movietone News
Ships sinking, planes on fire, corpses in a trench
But also at the Saturday matinee
Swordsmen, gangsters, pirates
G-men, Apaches, pygmies with poison darts
We children spent our off hours playing military games
Or cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians
I owned a six-shooter, a luger, a .45, a rifle with a bayonet
A hunting knife, a jackknife, a Bowie knife, a machete
Loads of cap pistols, water pistols, a machine gun that shot ping pong balls
Not to mention my bow and arrows
When we weren’t busy shooting at each other
We played contact sports
Basketball, football, boxing, wrestling
Determining who could triumph over whom
Who were winners, who were losers
Men, we concluded, don’t show emotion
Tough guys dish out pain and can take it
Being weak is the worst sin of all
Looking back, this was not ideal preparation
for marriage, family, parenthood, friendship
Probably it was useful for pro football or the army
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