Lessons of Manhood from Warriors

Men were once warriors, leaders, kings. Being smart and strong. Courageous and brave. Conquering and defending foreign lands. These men were considered dangerous. Vikings and Romans used ambition to determine where they stood in the hierarchy.

A time when facial hair stood for something. Beards and mustaches were once a sign of being older, wiser, and strong. It meant that a man was more aggressive than the regular man. It was a sign of maturity. During western times, a mustache and beard signified a man’s maturity giving them the eligibility to vote. The facial hair is what differentiated the men from the warriors. During medieval European times, a knight with a beard signified their virility and honor. Today, guys have beards because it’s ‘trendy’…. Where the valor of facial hair is gone.

Throughout the course of history, boundaries are drawn and empires expand. Today, most men are not ambitious, they are only looking for complacency. Being ambitious brought those men closer to death. That adrenaline is the fire that burned inside of them looking to conquer and explore worlds. They would quench their thirst of ambitiousness with swords and axes.

Here are 10 lessons from Viking and Roman warriors that transcend time.

If you’re imitating, you’re already losing…

People often think it’s cool to imitate others; when it gets them nowhere. Though it’s a pitiful state to be in since no one will know who they really are. What most people don’t realize is that authenticity is confidence. Not worrying about portraying A story makes life easier. In addition, when we create ‘portrayals’ for places like work and school, they are wasting their time. Because when everything’s said and done, people go their separate ways. Those friendships become distant memories of the times we have spent together. Why waste time being someone else?

Modesty illuminates the soul

Why do you want 15 minutes of fame? Once those 15 minutes are over, you are forgotten. When you step up and do what’s right, you don’t get accolades, but people will know who you are and what you stand for. The yes-men you surround yourself with only provide you with what you want, not counsel. It is those that offer you counsel that give you better reconnaissance through feedback.

Viking warriors never needed constant praise. They knew when they won and when they lost. It was the young and inexperienced who often giggled and praised themselves. While the child of a Lord or Earl gave orders, the Warriors knew what is best and always had the ear of the King. Those warriors knew that it was ok to disobey an order from a child because on the battlefield the experienced taught the inexperienced.

Fortify your vulnerabilities

There is a subtle balance in the art of war. On one side, there is the training and victories that boost the confidence. However, that confidence can turn into complacency. You won, now you must develop that area to be better than it originally was. During the reign of the Roman Legion, it was their downtime that brought them the greatest risk. A true leader tends not to his people who stand alongside to fight, but to those who lost the fight. Because it is those who lost and are captured that will tend to the crops and ensure that the horses are feed.

Warriors also fought on their strengths. Some were marksmen with a bow and arrows, others knew how to wield a sword. They fought with the tool they knew best. Some may be good with numbers, others are better with pictures. Find your strengths and learn how to battle with them.

Nothing is lost

When Rome would train their warriors, they would look back at their martial wisdom to improve. For history does not repeat itself, but we learn how to respond through the lessons. When one learns a skill, it comes second nature to some if they use the skill. Like learning a language, the more you speak it, the more you learn how to speak. Because inactivity turns a veteran into a novice. So, get out of the house and use the skills you have.

Once you have the skills, build on them. You learned a new language… Good, now learn how to write a book in that languages’ proper grammar. Building up one’s skills is common among warriors. They do it often, and it is seen today. You know it as studying or training.

Hunger is as fierce as an ax

An ax allows you to cut food, hunger gets you the cow. It’s the hunger inside each of us that allows us to do what cannot be done. In Viking culture, they wanted more and they got more. Holding their fears in their hearts, they set out to conquer. It is that fear that told them to go forth and set sail. As you go through life and begin to fear things. Use that fear to conquer any obstacles in your way.

Seize the higher ground, and hold it!

Fredrich Nich once said that morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior beings to hold back the few superior beings. That is not True. Your morals and values are the backbones to the character of being a man! Hold true to your morals and values. Because, as you grow in life, your words will strike with greater impact to those who saw your morality as a joke. Those will be the ones that will talk behind your back. Why…? Their words will have empty meanings.

True warriors do more than fight battles

A warrior does more than fight and die… They protect the people! Through diplomacy, farming, carpentry, educating, and smiling. Yes, warriors smile. Some of the greatest warriors in the world have never fought in battles with rifles and swords, but with their hearts and minds. John Adams was a farmer. Abraham Lincoln was a small-town lawyer. Plato, Socrates were merely teachers. Jesus was a carpenter. To equate warriors with bloodshed is insulting to those fighting for rights and ensuring their communities are empowered.

However, when it came time to battle they were unstoppable. The Roman Empire would give it’s people a scroll when they would leave the empire that read “Cevis Romani”. Which literally means ‘Roman Citizen”. With that scroll, no other empire did harm to that person. For if they did, they would feel the weight of the entire Roman Empire. Warriors took care of their people. This allowed their people to develop trade with other nations and learn about new cultures.

Hard climates make hard men

Vikings lived in an area where it was difficult for them to grow crops and colonize. You see it today in modern society. The climate being referred to is work. Farmers are tough. Cowboys are hardcore. The men who must work through the physical pain of labor develop a thick skin. These are the men who do the job no one wants to do. People who are linemen, field pickers, and construction workers. These men are tough and not afraid to get their hands dirty.

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. How will you ever learn? You must learn endurance and perseverance. Think about it like going to the gym. Most people hate going to the gym, myself included. Physical toughness is pushing through the workouts. Mental toughness wanting to do it. That stress is what builds you up your toughness.

Self-sufficiency is the ultimate security

If you’re 30 years old and still need your mom to cook your food and do your laundry, you’re doing something wrong…. Independency is one of the greatest assets in the world. If you cannot cook or do your own laundry, how can you provide for a family? It is the self-sufficiency that separates the weak from the strong, the children from the men.

Accept death with open arms!

When the Vikings would go and explore, they were not afraid to die that were afraid of the unknown. Leaving home can be tough. Going to a new land knowing that there is a possibility of death, they welcomed it. Today more than ever people regret what they have never done. Knowing that death is around all corners, we as people need not fear death but welcome it. When one accepts that death, they no longer fear to live their lives.

Death and failure are one in the same. When one fails, one has the belief that their idea is dead. Thus, is not true. In the case of failure, this gives an individual to improve on their idea. In life death comes once, then we are forgotten. When our ideas die, we have the opportunity to make it better. Use the death of failure to succeed.

 

Warriors are far and few between. How do you know they’re there? They answer your call after not speaking for months on end. They are there when you need them most. They are there when you don’t need a helping hand. They are there to listen. The only thing they are not is all men. Today warriors are both, men and women who want to help. They are there to build up their communities.

The world needs to be shaped through diplomacy and peace. Throw out your mobile phone and be ambitious. Leave the place you call home as you never find yourself when you are in the same place. Go forth as a warrior of your homeland and create a path forward for your brethren.

There are pictures that barely show the depth of things we have done. Our lives tell a story of who we are and who we were. It is said that great men are forged in fires, and it is the privilege of the lesser men to light the flame. Cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die; but the fair fame never dies of him who has earned it.