Welcome to Millennium Man's second release of his essays page. The best part of this website is that we have enough room for them all. Browse and enjoy them as you wish. There are some old favorites among the new ones. . . we will archive them all in a month or two. Welcome . . . . .

Being the Father

On this father's day there are many stories in the news from kids. . . writing about their dads and what makes them special. Millennium Man is a father who has struggled with freshman algebra and has risen to a midnight telephone call and rushed to a crisis; he has applauded the recitals and congratulated the graduate. And when he celebrates these memories he can see in his kids' actions that they have learned from his guidance. And when he enjoys his first dinner in his daughter's first apartment, or shares his son's itinerary for a vacation abroad, he beams with pride because he knows he has done well.

Millennium Man is a father who knows about life and shares this experience with his children, teaching about the worth of the life they will lead, to keep their minds and eyes open, and how to carry themselves in all kinds of circumstances. He teaches them fairness and humility but most of all how to survive in this world we have created for them and their children. He does this through living it and sharing it. If he wants to go off to a stadium and hold hands with a multitude of dads and make promises to his children, that's okay. The most important point is to be there for them and make only one promise . . . to never let them down and love them for themselves.

Millennium Man knows that Father's Day means more than getting a hand painted tie or a dinner at Olive Garden or even a card in the mail. Father's day is a time for a dad to sit back and reminisce about the children he raised and share in their lives and successes and most important, be confident that their future will be one filled with happiness and love. Millennium Man celebrates this with his children and fathers everywhere.

Happy Father's Day -- Cory, Lyndsay, and Kevin.

Gun Control

Once again our congressional leaders have taken the predictable stand on gun control in the United States by killing the latest bill. Once again they have insulted your intelligence by placing the blame for all the violent crime out there in our inner cities and the firepower in the classrooms on TV and the movies. And today, it is still legal for a disturbed and angry eighteen year-old to purchase a gun in Colorado. It's almost impossible to determine which of these eighteen year olds are disturbed or not when even their parents cannot keep track of them. They are too young to have criminal records and unless there are cases of life-long mental illness, who is to say which of your neighbors' sons may or may not be pissed off at you and ready for some payback?

Millennium Man doesn't advocate taking the Bill of Rights to the cleaners. The right to bear arms should be upheld for as long as the constitution stands and no one questions that. For every child injured accidentally by a firearm in this country there are perhaps hundreds of teenagers who have been instructed and respect firearm safety. But for a pissed off kid to be able to pack an AK-47 or a TEC-9 in his car is sheer insanity and the parents, state legislators, and congressmen of this great land that we love must own up to that fact. Let's not presume that violence in the movies killed all those kids in Littleton. Millennium Man may have been born at night but he wasn't born last night. Violence on TV and movies has been around since the Great Train Robbery. Kids have only been killing kids in the last decade or so.

The final blow of the week came when they agreed to deal a bill allowing the ten commandments to be displayed in our school. There were some who felt that by presenting the laws of the lord to the students, their consciences will be their guide to do the right thing. Hogwash.

Millennium Man has nothing against the ten commandments at all and, as a matter of fact, feels that they are a great creed by which we all could practice and live our lives. But displaying them in our schools will not put a dent in the fight to end teenage armed assaults. Maybe the ten commandments should be displayed in the halls of congress -- particularly highlighting the one about bearing false witness, something each and every politician fails to keep whenever they spread their campaign rhetoric of lies and balderdash every election year.

HANDS

The computer age and the service economy have bred a civilization of people who don't have to use their fingers anymore. Look around you. In the supermarket, the checkers in even the smallest of markets need only swipe the OCR bar code across the laser and everything is done. Where once they used to key every entry into the cash register keypad, now they can do it wearing oven mitts!! In the fast food lines, each item is represented by a separate key on the keypad and the checker could manage the transaction, and often does, with just a thumb or a finger.

Millennium Man knows how to work with his hands. He may not be a sculptor or a handy craftsman or musician. But he can steady a wavering bicycle from dumping a five year-old and change a lady's flat tire effortlessly. He can start a fire and whip up an omelet; he will gently massage an aching foot or tenderly cup his lover's breast. When he plays, Millennium Man is sure of his skills as he throws a strike, or racks up a ringer. He spikes the volleyball or booms the racket and knows just where to cast his hook. He is deft with a pool cue or right at home typing a letter.

Millenium man doesn't have to prove himself to anyone. His handshake is firm, his manner steady and sure, and his reflexes are quick. He can tie a fly and barbecue a chicken over perfect coals. And, most important of all, he never thinks of these feats as unique or special in any way and performs them only when they need to be performed, casually, without pomp or ceremony.

When he holds a woman in his arms, his hands are firm and supportive yet, tender and caressing. The man of the 21^st century must do all this and never feel belittled or low for lack of artistry or skill. His hands are a great asset and he gives freely the pleasures they emit.

Millennium Man fits many molds and traverses many ways of life. Each one of them is unique to him alone, a product of his magnificent hands.

The Perfectly Imperfect Woman

What makes up the perfect woman? This question has been around for millennia. There are all the classic stories from the mythical Diana to the Sirens who lured Ulysses from his quest with their sumptuous songs. The last queen of Egypt evokes visions of a voluptuous Elizabeth Taylor, seducing Mark Antony with her sensual beauty and power. From Eve to the Mona Lisa, the image of the perfect woman has been reflected in the art of the times. Where there is no graphic record, like Lady Godiva's exhibition on horseback, this image appears differently to each of us, fashioned mostly from the vision in our mind's eye of what the perfect woman looks like. The Europe of Lady Godiva's time was made up of muddy medieval towns filled with grubby villagers clad in burlap rags. Lady Godiva didn't shock the townspeople with perfect breasts or tiny waist but by baring her pride and her virtuous heart to the town, all in the name of the cause she represented. No one looked, by the way, except for one peeping Tom, the tailor.

The artists of the Renaissance, for the first time imitating life in true perspective, no doubt chose the most beautiful models to pose for their works, as seen in Mary's fragile face in Michelangelo's "Pieta". And in those cases where the lady of the manor's portrait depicts a plain looking woman, it's not the work of a bad painter but more than likely the true depiction of a not so beautiful, matronly lady. In this century, the quest for the perfect woman gave us a universal image, the Gibson Girl, Marilyn Monroe, or simply, Jackie or Diana.

Millennium Man knows that the perfection of a woman has nothing to do with the way she makes up her face or the length of her hair. In fact, she may have subtle flaws and a stature that is unique to her alone. If she's a baby boomer, she may have a gray hair or two and a few wrinkles at the corners of her eyes that dissolve when she smiles. The perfect woman of the millennium emits the beauty of her heart, her inner soul, and a passion for love.

Violence in America

Every morning on the am news the overnight beat lists the latest shootings, beatings, and other acts of mayhem in the inner city, mostly inflicted upon young men by other young men. A seventeen year old is gunned down and the neighbors shrug and say "goddam gang bangers" and go on their way. It's a way of life in the hoods that has desensitized American city dwellers -- that is, until an innocent is caught in the crossfire. Then the tempers rise up to stop something that has built up so much momentum, it will never be stopped at the rate we're going at it. And if we were to round up all the gangbangers and put them away right now, it will only serve for a little while. With our screwed up legal system in twenty years we will unleash thousands of thirty somethings upon the city, hardened from prison and already with blood on their hands. Is that anything to look forward to?

It's only when rich kids in high school or middle school set out like commandos, gunning for certain cliques that we wake up to some stark realities. Most of these kids have been labeled geek, or nerd or other creepy names. It is not so bad that they don't fit into the scene because most of them are quite content to hang in the computer lab with their own little clique. But the jocks, being the cool guys they are, ridicule and haze them, often within earshot of some of a teacher or coach. Every kid in high school has played Mortal Kombat at least once and the way to get even in that game is to bash the other guy's head in. So here is Michael Geek, playing Mortal Kombat on his home PC and he can envision the jock or the bully at the other end of his cyber-numchucks or brass knuckles and at the end of his game, the bully lies dead and bloody on the floor and everything's fine. Hasn't everyone gone through a phase where they wished doom and destruction on the cruel and biased who hazed and roughed them up?

But put a TEC-9 in the hands of Michael Geek and let's see what happens. Comes a time when he has had enough of the jokes and the wedgies and wants to really GET EVEN. By that time it's too late and when he strikes, he is insane with bloodlust. He manages to single out the jocks but it doesn't end there and he goes out and takes a few cheerleaders, preps, and anyone else who is guilty by association, but someone's son or sister.

Millennium Man knows that any biased to the unfortunate or merely different will never die in American schools. But it's time the teachers and parents of this country get a handle on their kids and teach them some real values. Without them, the future is doomed to destruction, before it ever starts.