Categories
Manly Skills

The Importance of Letter-Writing

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! First off, apologies for not having an article up on Saturday, I got caught up with a trip to Disneyland with my girlfriend and didn’t have much time to research a topic for today. I still felt guilty about not having an article up though, so I hope you’ll forgive me in putting up this one so late. In any case, let’s get to the rest of the article.

It’s no surprise that email and social media have become so commonplace today that the art of letter-writing is in danger of practically dying, which is a shame. Letter-writing is a much more personal and honest way to talk to someone as opposed to just sending someone a text message or DM on Instagram. So today, I’m going to go over how to write a letter as well as its importance today. So before this article turns into a full-length novel, let’s get started!

For starters, it’s important to understand that most of what I’ll be talking about today is informal letter-writing – that is, writing a letter to someone like an old friend, family member, lover, etc. As such, the rules of writing can be somewhat fluid. The salutation can be the colloquial “Dear [recipient’s first name]”, or it can simply be the recipients name. If it’s a close friend or even a lover, feel free to include any salutation as well as a silly nickname or pet name. The letter can also be formatted in any way you please, but the content is where it counts. Informal letters can be for a variety of purposes; a thank you note, a letter of congratulations, a condolence letter, a love letter, etc. While most of these formats can be very personal, you’ll want to save pouring out your feelings for either a love or condolence letter. If it’s anything else, the you’ll want to keep it colloquial; let the recipient know how things in your life are going, ask how things in their life are going. Even with all the types of informal letter formats I listed above, most of them are just life updates like what we do on Facebook. As for closing your letter, choose whatever you want. It can be “sincerely”, “regards”, “love”, or anything else that comes to mind. Lastly, when it comes to what you want to write your letter on, it can be just about anything. It can simply be a piece of notebook paper or printer paper,  or it can also be a piece of formal stationery, something I would suggest for a love or condolence letter. Now with all of that out of the way, let’s get into why letter-writing is so important.

As I said in the beginning of the article, the rise of the internet and social media has led to electronic communication becoming essentially the norm. While there’s anything inherently wrong with that, there are two very important things that written letters have that said electronic communication doesn’t: human connection and honesty. Since it’s so much easier to be anonymous on the internet, it also makes it a lot harder to actually connect with people you meet online. Even if you’re not directly talking to the letter’s recipient, there’s a level of connection there that isn’t present online. Think about it. It’s your pen that writes the physical letter, your saliva seals the letter, and your hand that puts the letter in the mailbox. Just those three small things allow for much more connection without actually talking to them. Plus, since it obviously takes more time to write a letter than it does to type a text message or Facebook status, the recipient will be much more touched that you took the time to write them that letter.

So there it is! Hopefully this gave you young gents reading a better idea of how and why to write letters more often. If any of you are interested in more details about letter-writing, be sure to check out this piece by the Art of Manliness that gave me inspiration for this one. They go into a bit more detail about formal letter-writing as well as how to address an envelope for those who don’t know. In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the article, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Categories
Gentleman's Philosophy

Insults That Shouldn’t be Insults

Two businessmen having an argument

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! So today’s article is going to be a little different than a lot of our other articles, but I feel like it’s an important one to talk about. Throughout human history, insults have evolved practically as much as the English language has. However, in today’s society, there are a quite a few insults, especially directed towards boys and young men that really shouldn’t be seen or used as insults. So today, I’ll be going through three (3) insulting words or phrases that should not be taken too seriously.

1. Boy Scout

I’m sure at least one of you reading this has had this hurled your way. A lot of times, when people call someone a “Boy Scout”, they think that the person they’re directing it towards is a just a goody two-shoes yes man who obeys any command given to him simply because he was taught to do so. However, if someone were to look into what the Boy Scouts actually teach and advocate for, they will find a completely different narrative. Yes, they may teach things like respecting authority and generally being a good person, but they also encourage free thinking, standing up for one’s convictions and beliefs, and being on hand to help with any situation, as the Scout Motto and Scout Slogan state, “Be prepared” and “Do a good turn daily. More often than not, if someone calls someone else a Boy Scout as a means of insulting or making fun of them, that person likely doesn’t know what being a Boy Scout actually requires.

2. Virgin

You’ll see or hear this a lot when talking about a man’s masculinity. A lot of times, a man will use “virgin” to insult another man because he’s had little to no experience with women, or because he’s generally antisocial or a “prude” as a lot of people will say. However, the fact of the matter is that a man should feel no shame in being a virgin. Unless they’re what people have started to call “inels”, which I may write an entirely separate article on, a man should never feel ashamed of himself because he’s a virgin. Sure, part of the reason may be that he doesn’t have much experience talking to or interacting with women (see this article here if you want some help with that), but it could also be that he wants to stay a virgin by his own volition, which could be a variety of reasons. But in either case, there’s no shame in that. There’s no reason a man’s self-worth should be in any way tied to whether or not he’s done the deed yet.

3. Nerd/Geek

I’m sure we’ve all heard these before, whether they were directed to us or to someone else. These can also go hand-in-hand with the “virgin” insult because guys often use these insults for the same reasons. They use it to shame a guy who seems more antisocial and chooses to devote more of his time to things like movies, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons. Of course, the images that most of these other men think when thinking of the words “nerd” or “geek” is the dated 80’s stereotype of the antisocial bookworm with the big glasses who does something silly sometimes for no other reason than “he’s a geek”. Today, however, the words nerd and geek can apply to so many different things. Someone can be a movie nerd, a video game nerd, an engineering nerd, or a myriad of other things. However, I’m sure if those men hurling insults at these “nerds” actually knew who they were insulting, they would know that most of them are smart, kind, well-meaning people who just happen to be really passionate about something that most people aren’t familiar with.

So there it is! If there’s anything that should be taken away from this article, I think it’s this. Words can certainly hurt, and they can even alienate, but they only have as much power as a person chooses to give them. A lot of these words and phrases should be attributed to positivity and virtue, but it seems today that because so many people give words so much power, so many innocuous words and phrases can end up ruining someone’s life. In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the article, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Categories
Manly Skills

What the Wilderness can Teach a Young Gentleman

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! For today’s article, I’m going to draw a lot from my experience as a Boy Scout and attempt to teach you young gents reading this how the great outdoors are a true gentleman’s playground and classroom. So let’s not waste any time and get right into it!

1. Self-Preservation

While I’ve obviously never been in a situation where I’ve had to survive in the wilderness by myself, I’m confident that the skills I’ve learned as an Eagle Scout could help me survive for at least a little bit if the situation called for it. After seven (7) years of going on hikes and campouts with my Boy Scout troop, there are so many valuable skills I learned that I could not have learned elsewhere. Some skills that have stuck with me to this day are things like how to most efficiently pack a backpack, how to properly stack wood for a fire, how to read and orient a map, and how to properly and carefully ration food. And that’s just to name a few of the things I learned. These are skills that not a lot of young men today have, and with the Boy Scouts currently considering bankruptcy, it could be even harder for young men to find a place to learn these skills in a practical way. But even if you aren’t a Scout, it’s always best to abide by the Scout motto, “Be prepared”.

2. Appreciation for Nature

It’s no secret that with the amount of hikes and campouts I’ve been on, I’ve had the opportunity to see quite a few different natural locations, biomes, and ecosystems. Whether it was the vast desert in Death Valley, the mountainous heights of the Sierra Nevadas, or the lush forests of Las Padres, I eventually came to greatly appreciate what Mother Nature had to offer. Moreover, another thing this led to was my intense appreciation for the stars and astronomy. Since so many of the places I went to were devoid of the intense amount of light pollution of the modern world, I’ve been able to see the night sky in all of its wonder and beauty. With so much of modern life being so hectic and energized, being able to sit back and enjoy the beauty, tranquility, and majesty of the natural elements can be a great de-compressor for any young man.

3. Observational Skills

Travelling in the outdoors, it’s a given that you’ll see a lot of different things; trees, plants, animals, animal tracks, landscapes, and the like. And as a result, if you go to the same area often, it can allow to become familiar with the biome and ecosystem. It can help you more easily identify what animals are in the area by finding their tracks, or what types of trees are present by just looking at their leaves. While it can be debated what kind of practicality this has in real life, in my opinion, general knowledge in a variety of subjects is always a good thing for a young man to have.

So there it is! Those are just a few things that a young man can learn in the wilderness. To be honest, there’s probably a lot more that the wilderness has to teach, and if those of you who are reading like this article, maybe I’ll make a part two (2)! In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the post, follow the blog, donte to our Patreon, and follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook and Instagram. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Categories
Uncategorized

The Value of Being a Gentleman

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! I know you’re probably tired of hearing this, but I want to apologize for not having anything up on here or social media in the last while. School has been putting me through the wringer, and it’s generally been hard to find any inspiration to write lately. But hopefully I should be back to my old posting schedule soon. I’ll still have to start by putting up just one article a week for now, but I’m hoping to be back to my twice-a-week posting schedule before too long. In any case, let’s get into the rest of the article.

So for today’s article, I want to go into the roots of why I even started this blog in the first place. In today’s society, especially in the US, the art and value of being a gentleman is being seriously downplayed and even demonized in certain circles. And on paper, I can see why people think that. Some of the worst atrocities in our human history like the Holocaust, mass enslavement of the Africans and the Jews, and persecution of women in the Middle East can be easily attributed to men, whether individually or as a group. These can be reasonable examples of the “toxic masculinity” that many a social justice advocate or modern feminist try to fight against. However, that doesn’t mean that men should feel guilty for the history of their gender and become emasculated for the sake of appeasing women. Allow me to explain.

As stated by CRTV host Allie Stuckey in a video on Prager University, “When men embrace their masculinity in a way that is healthy and productive, they are leaders, warriors, and heroes.” (https://youtu.be/U-kxdyJs6y8?t=93). Masculinity in and of itself is not a bad thing. While yes, unbridled and unchecked masculinity can lead to such atrocities stated above, healthy and virtuous masculinity can lead to massive change for the betterment of society and the world. Such masculinity can lead to things like the ending of slavery in the United States, the harnessing of electricity, or the writing of timeless stories and music. And that’s what I’m trying to teach my readers with this blog.

I encourage my readers to be traditionally masculine, but not in a way that’s harmful to others like what sites like Return of Kings may advocate for (I might write more about them in the future). What they advocate for can be argued as “toxic masculinity”, but that is nothing close to what I try to teach my readers. As Stuckey states in the video, virtuous masculinity has helped end wars, create nations, and foster strong families. It’s this kind of masculinity that I try to imbue into my readers. I try to give them ideas like general respect to your fellow man, treating women with dignity and respect, and not treating anyone as lesser than human regardless of race, gender, religion, or anything else. I encourage individuality and egalitarianism, as I believe these virtues that are the most necessary to creating strong men, strong families, and by extension, a strong society. In today’s society where the importance of fathers and strong men is being increasingly downplayed, I feel a responsibility to show men what value they can actually bring to this world, thus, here we are. In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the post, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Categories
Love/Relationships

Why the Stigma Around Online Dating?

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! Once again, I want to sincerely apologize for the lack of articles up here lately, I’ve been swamped other projects for school and the like, and haven’t been able to do much of anything on here. But I’m at a point now where I think I can get back to a schedule of posting just once a week instead of twice. Maybe if I’m able to find another admin, we’ll be able to get back to our twice-a-week posting schedule. With all of that out of the way, let’s get to the rest of the article!

Now, it should come as no surprise that online dating and things like dating apps have started to become more and more prevalent as in today’s society, and with such growing prevalence comes its fair share of critics and naysayers. Even I myself tend to advocate for actually talking to a woman in person and getting a genuine human connection with a woman I’d like to date, since just swiping right on someone I think is attractive and asking if they want to hook up doesn’t seem to accomplish that all. Not to mention there are countless articles and op-eds outright discouraging people from pursuing online dating. But here’s the ugly truth: with the massive expansion of the internet and social media, meeting people online has just become part of everyday life. As a part of the internet’s expansion, that means things like dating sites have become much more sophisticated and there are more options for dating sites now than ever.

When people think of dating dating sites, most people think of sites like eHarmony, Match.com, or ChristianMingle, but the fact of the matter is that there are countless dating sites for many different people with different interests. There are Christian dating sites for those religious folks, “geeky” dating sites for a myriad of different fandoms like Disney, Star Trek, Harry Potter and Dr. Who, and even dating sites for musicians. While I myself was hesitant about online dating, I eventually bit the bullet and decided to make a profile on CatholicMatch, which is exactly what it sounds like, a dating site for single Catholics. And eventually, I met a wonderful woman who I am now in a very happy and fruitful relationship with. The reason sites like these work is because they focus on commonalities between people, which makes it even easier for them connect. If you ask me, it’s not unlike meeting someone at church or a fan event. The circumstances of what people have in common simply led to them finding each other out of a crowd. Dating sites allow you to do essentially the same thing, just in a more digital setting. So if any of you gents feel the call to go online to find the woman of your dreams, then by all means, go ahead! Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t, but you never know until you try. Good luck gents, and happy searching! In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the post, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!