“Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers. They know that needless antagonizers are virtually already insecure enough.” — Criss Jami, “Killosophy”

Someone told me recently he wanted to be more like a “traditional man.”

He told me traditional men — men from “some time ago,” he said — had more strength, courage, and discipline than today’s men. In his mind, men used to be better men, and he wanted to be more like that.

Was he right?

Am I less masculine than my father and his father before him?

Weaker?

More afraid?

Am I less of a man?

The science says today’s men tend to have lower natural levels of testosterone, the hormone responsible for hair growth, bone density, muscle mass, libido, a sense of wellbeing, and more.

Forbes, in a fascinating 2017 piece, detailed a 2007 study that found the average testosterone levels of a 60-year-old man in 2004 were 17% lower than an average 60-year-old man in 1987. Numerous other studies have reported similar findings, some revealing decreases as high as 25% over the past few decades. Most scientists blame climbing rates of obesity and related health ailments and increased exposure to toxins.

All men naturally lose testosterone as they age, some 1% a year just fading away once men hit their 30s, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Are men in their 50s somehow something less than men in their 30s? Men in their 60s something less than those in their 50s?

The New York Times in 2018 reported on a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finding men’s health improved when they raised their testosterone levels out of the “low-T” range, but found little to no benefits from increasing testosterone levels any higher.

So men may have lower testosterone overall these days, but, as long as they’re not in the diagnosable range of unhealthy lows, they’re just as virile as men with higher testosterone levels.

The Cleveland Clinic says average testosterone levels haven’t yet fallen to unhealthy lows, though they continue to decline.

Forbes, however, also detailed a 2016 study finding that 20- to 34-year-old men could apply an average of 98 pounds of force with a right-hand grip, down from 117 pounds by men of the same age in 1985. Researchers in part blame that loss on the fact that fewer men perform manual labor in their day jobs, meaning overall fewer daily strength exercises.

Does physical strength make the man?

I think of Mike Tyson, one of the winningest boxers on the planet. A jury in 1992 convicted Tyson of rape, the most cowardly, least manly abomination one can commit.

Tyson can certainly beat me to a bloody pulp, yet I am more manly than he.

So, if testosterone alone and strength alone can’t make a man a man, what of courage?

I couldn’t find any research suggesting men are less courageous today than in years past. The closest I could find is research suggesting men are more anxious and depressed today, which could be linked to lower levels of testosterone. Scientists also link increased anxiety and depression to decreased physical activity, since exercise can improve mood.

Does that alone mean men are lesser nowadays?

As he often did, Ernest Hemingway found a way to hit the nail on the head without ever talking about the nail.

His book “Islands in the Stream,” written sometime around 1950 and published posthumously in 1970, paints manhood as a constant struggle between love and lust, loyalty and self-interest, war and peace, duty and family, strength of body and strength of mind, conquest and restraint.

In one scene, the protagonist, Thomas Hudson, takes his three sons deep-sea fishing. His middle son hooks a big fish and battles it to the point of blood and blisters and exhaustion.

Hudson’s oldest boy pleads with his father to take over the fight.

“You’re an awfully good boy, Tommy,” the protagonist tells his eldest. “But please know I would have stopped this long ago except that if David catches this fish he’ll have something inside him for all his life and it will make everything else easier.”

Perhaps that says it all.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.