Boys to Men

A couple of days ago, after a Bible study, one of the older men in the church who also happens to work there told me something interesting about my son. He seemed very impressed by him and wanted to tell me what he'd done, so naturally, I thought it was something huge. It turns out that all he did was pass this older man in the hall and say "Hello" and shake his hand. I was kind of nonplussed at first, thinking there must be more to the story.

Then I tried to look at it through this other man's eyes and really see what he was saying. Here was a thirteen-year-old boy on his way to lunch who stopped to acknowledge one of the maintenance men at his school, when everyone else was passing by. Furthermore, according to my source, he not only showed the initiative by offering his hand to shake, but looked him in the eye when he did it. I really got it then. It was such a simple, but very manly thing to do, and it did make me a little proud. As someone who has always struggled with introversion and a touch of shyness (although no one who knows me would say so) it's always taken a concerted effort on my part to introduce myself to people or to initiate contact. But somehow, my son is starting to get that early on. It makes me wonder if it takes effort for him as well, or if it's natural to him. Either way, it's a good look for him, and I think if he keeps it up, he might just develop into a pretty interesting man.