Old Smokey

~Old Smokey~

If

If you can keep your head when all about you;
 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
 But make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
 Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
 And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
 If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
 And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
 Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
 And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make a heap of all your winnings
 And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
 And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
 To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
 Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
 Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
 If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
 With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
 And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
~Rudyard Kipling - 1895~

Back in the 1970's there was a ad campaign plastered all across america showing what seemed to be the typical american man.  Cigarette maker Marlboro introduced its Marlboro man campaign in 1954, which is why I recall it so well as I was growing up.  The ads, created by advertising firm Leo Burnett worldwide, showed the marlboro man in different settings doing...man things  Well, what the advertisers wanted us to think were man things.  We'd see him as a cowboy riding the range, roping cattle and sitting on a fence talking with other marlboro men.  This was what it meant to be a man in america so it seemed.  That stoic, cigarette smoking, chaw spitting figurehead of manhood in the free world.  I often wondered just how many kids in other countries saw these ads and yearned to come to america...and sit on a fence to smoke cigarettes.  Trouble is, I rarely saw marlboro man with his kids, if indeed he had any.  Then again, I rarely saw him with his wife.  Pictures of marlboro man with his family, on holiday picnics, kids baseball games or even a date night with Mrs. marlboro man seemed to be missing from the ad campaign.  Was this the image of manhood in america, of a rough riding loner who stood alone against the world?  If so, they were sending the wrong message.  What happens when marlboro man suddenly finds himself in a situation he can't handle?  Who does he turn to?  I'm sorry, but the whole marlboro man theme to me simply portrayed one who was emotionless, stoic and without feelings.  If this is what it took to be a man, then I guess I've failed.  I'm nothing but a wanna be marlboro man.  It's funny that I do not recall poet Rudyard Kipling pining that if indeed his son would smoke marlboros, remain stoic and be a loner then...you'll be a man my son!  So is the perception of manhood.

2What, my son? And what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows? 3Do not give your strength to women, Nor your ways to that which destroys kings. 4It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink; 5Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all athe afflicted. 6Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to those who are bitter of heart. 7Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more. 8Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are bappointed to die. 9Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Proverbs 31: 2 - 9 NKJV

I find it interesting that lost in what many point to as the virtues of a christian woman we find in Proverbs 31 we find something else.  For in the very part of this passage we find sage advice for...men.  Yes, those qualities which make a godly man along with those which make a godly woman.  Although this isn't a earth shattering revelation by any means, it shows us exactly the worlds view of manhood.  I have not found anything in Proverbs 31 which instructs me to shutter up my feelings and emotions, rope cattle or lean up against a fence all day.  Of course, I wouldn't even begin to expect anything like that from a cigarette ad campaign.  No, this isn't the measure of ones manhood.  In recent years, I've taken to refering to marlboro man as 'Old Smokey' for obvious reasons.  Old Smokey may indeed have been a man, but I doubt his manhood was due to his conduct in those ads plastered across the globe.  No, he would have needed to be seasoned by the storms of life, brought to his knees by his broken dreams and humbled by those around him.  If Old Smokey indeed could have endured these things...then he'd be a man my son!

~Scott~