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