588b1c58c8a68278cfc28555

Day 20
Perform Service
When we think about moments that epitomize manliness, we often think
of the captain going down with the ship, the men who allow the women
and children to go first, the soldier who throws himself on a grenade to
shield his brothers from the blow, the old man who attempts to save a
drowning child and perishes himself in the waves. The common denominator
in such scenarios is this: sacrifice. Sacrifice is arguably the manliest of
virtues. It is the ability to give up our desires, sometimes even our lives, to
aid and benefit someone else.
While most of us will never be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice,
there is one sacrifice every man is both capable of making and should
be making: the sacrifice of his time and resources in service to others.
Even men who don’t consider themselves materialistic can be absolutely
greedy with their time. But while holding tightly to our time and resources
seems, in the moment, to protect our happiness, in the long run, this selfishness
cankers our souls. The more tightly we hold to things, the less we
enjoy them. Selfishness makes us needlessly bitter and contemptible, never
feeling like we have enough, always worried that someone is going to take
away our stuff. In not sharing of our time, talents, and resources, we end
up feeling empty, not full. Service should thus be a part of every man’s life,
lest he along with Ebenezer Scrooge should despair, “Not to know that no
space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet
such was I! Oh! Such was I!”