What makes a man strong?

DeletedUser

I agree that it's hard to give a serious answer to the question because strong is a relative term. To a 2 year old, most 5 year olds probably seem strong, whereas the 5 year old would seem far from it to most adults. I don't think anyone is ever "strong" since we can all improve, but everyone can become "stronger".

I'll skip the physical strength since I think most people would agree on the type of things that would help improve physical strength.

I see a mentally strong man as one who challenges himself regularly by learning new things that are difficult (or seemingly impossible) in the beginning, and then continues to learn more about it until they come with ease. I don't see a strong mind as one that knows a lot of things, but as one that knows how to learn anything it desires to learn.

I see a morally strong man as one who does what he thinks is right even when it would be easier to do something else, even if nobody else would know or care which choice he made.

I see an emotionally strong man as one who can go through devastating events without losing the hope that things can, and most likely will, be better in the future. It would be someone who can love completely even when he knows that he may lose the object of his love, someone who can grieve the loss of family or friends but still remember all of the family and friends he still has, someone who can be angry without losing control or feeling guilty, or can lose everything he owns but still feel that life is worth living.

Bravery is something different than strength though. I believe it takes a lot more courage to do something that scares you than it does to not be afraid in the first place. I would consider someone who does what he fears to be much braver than someone who has no fears.
 

DeletedUser

Hehe, I guess if we're going to go by your definitions, I'm a stud. :p

Seriously though, I do agree that the ability to adapt, overcome, and improvise are facets of personal strength, but also of intelligence and/or wisdom. Still, all that you presented above doesn't address a concept such as social defeat, which I witness when I look at what you define as "strong" people living in oppressed or structurally abandoned societies. In this respect, I'm speaking of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and other Central American countries where their governments serve merely to serve themselves, leaving the citizenry oppressed and structurally abandoned. In that world, in those societies, I see people who do whatever they can to survive, with many sticking to their moral values, and thus not surviving as well as those who devalue morality and instead do whatever is needed to be "strong."

See, there covers another issue. At what point is strong merely another word for, power?
 

DeletedUser

Man is weakest when beautiful woman whispers into his ears how strong he is...
 

DeletedUser

Lemme guess, Emily inson? Or Robert Frost?

Either way, i, for once, agree with Hellstromm that endurance is key when it comes to strength, what we're talking about is not physical, it can be likened that way.

A body builder is only successful if he/she endures through each workout, althrough sore from the previous, they push ahead. Through such, comes strength, in the physical sense. Such is true mentally, the focus of the discussion.

Many of the strongest men (mentally) had to go through a lot of trail, persecution perhaps, and face failure.

Even the genuises of the past century prove that, they did not become known as strong intellectually until they went through various tribulation to do so.

Thomas Edison had quite a few failed inventions before he finally submitted the one to start his enormous career. Albert Einstein was denied jobs by several universities, and while a child he was told he would never amount to anything, such examples are abundant. Though everytime they were met with failure, they persevered. Thus labelling such men as "strong" in the sense we're using it.

(examples of women, so that i don't sound sexist, would of course include Marie Curie, Joan of Arc, and Helen of Troy, just to name a few.)
 

DeletedUser

A good quote on the subject

"It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more 'manhood' to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.
-Alex Karras
 

DeletedUser

...a man's strength come's from his committed relationship with Jesus Christ

Not all people are Christians,you should understand that.
So,by your statement no other man woman or child can be mentally strong if it doesn't believe in Christ and with that it is not a Christian?
Please don't confuse religion here.I believe that it is not the answer to this one.
 

Sackkett

Well-Known Member
.....I do understand that and I'm not confused about religion, but this is how I believe a man gets his strength and or makes him strong.
 

DeletedUser

.....I do understand that and I'm not confused about religion, but this is how I believe a man gets his strength and or makes him strong.

Yes,but what about the people who don't believe in Christ,or any god?What of atheists?:)
We are talking about all the people.Try to figure out what makes them strong.:)
 

DeletedUser

clint eastwood in gran torino - now thats a strong man

What makes a man is his choices in life - the harder choices tend to be on the right path remember that ;) im 16 and drug free by choice dont smoke and dont drink often, ive nailed a 4 year engineering apprenticeship and ive made a few women happy. i rekon im going down the right path so far
 

Sackkett

Well-Known Member
Yes,but what about the people who don't believe in Christ,or any god?What of atheists?:)
We are talking about all the people.Try to figure out what makes them strong.:)

...I am part of " all " the people, for those that don't believe the way I believe well they will speak for them selves, no.
 

DeletedUser

...I am part of " all " the people, for those that don't believe the way I believe well they will speak for them selves, no.

I understand,but then you should have said that you are encouraged by the believing in Christ.:)And other people who believe probably are.
 

DeletedUser

Counter-argument:
I believe anyone that relies on fairy-tales to find strength is truly weak.
 
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