The actions of boys don't impress men

I've been thinking about the guts of this post about manhood and the third reason I mentioned that teens give to have sex.

The older I get, the more I wonder about what it is to be a man and how I recognise what a "real" man is.

In short, I think a "real" man knows the following...

What and, more importantly, who he's meant to protect.
What and, more importantly, who he's providing for.
What things he stands for.

If a bloke can answer me these three questions, then he's a long way to "proving" to me that he's a "real" man.

The reason I think this matters is because there's a lot of pretenders who want to act like men, but are really boys.

They destroy, not seek to protect.
They consume, not contribute or provide.
They have few well thought out opinions and, ultimately, stand for nothing of true consequence.

AND there's a subtle way to determine a "real" man from a pretender - What they are impressed by.

If a guy has solid answers to the things he protects, provides and stands for, he won't be impressed by the things which impress boys.

Drinking 30 schooners won't really impress him.
Doing drugs won't impress him.
Verbally, physically or sexually abusing women won't impress him.
Having sex with two women behind their backs won't impress him.
Cheating to get by at work won't impress him.
Taking advantage of people won't impress him.

These things might somewhat impress you and your mates when you're 19...
They shouldn't a decade later.

Why?

Because "real" men have more important things to worry about than showboating dickhead-ery (that's a term now).