“Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly…
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I absolutely love this poem! It reminds me of the type of men that we ought to be, and hopefully the type of men that we are. In a spirit of complete honesty, I am not the man that I often wish I were. I find it far too easy to seek out and discover my own flaws and to compare these flaws to the strengths of those whom I consider to be great men. I realize that this tendency is not only mine, but is shared by a vast majority of mankind. Why do we shoot ourselves down?

If we look inside ourselves and see the true image of God that was instilled in us long before we were born and could truly see ourselves in the way that our Heavenly Father sees us, would we ever look at ourselves as less than Sons and daughters of the Almighty God? No! Yes, we are imperfect, but this is all part of the grand design that He has in store for us. He designed His plan so that we would come to Earth and screw up! He doesn’t want us to screw up because of the consequences that follow, but at the same time, He expects us to, for without these lapses in judgment, we could never grow in the way we need to. We have to mess up in order to reach our true potential. He made us imperfect for a reason. We are here so we can strive to be our best selves, but we can’t destroy ourselves because we don’t live up to our own expectations! All we have is this second, right now. We can’t change the past nor live in the future. All we have are the choices we make right now, so let’s do our best with this moment right before our eyes. It’s all we have! Let us be men of honor, who dare while others fly!