What is a Proper Savage?
The pure Savage is toxic. The pure Proper is weak. But put the Proper and the Savage together in one, and you have the complete whole: the Proper Savage.
In an age when society has largely lost sight of what is Proper and has no first hand experience with what is Savage, men wander around looking for purpose, adventure, and meaning in a world that no longer seems to believe that it even needs men at all. (What about women?)
The proper savage has no concern for the confusing state that society is in today. He knows who he is and he lives with purpose. He knows he is needed and he calmly, patiently, and graciously delivers what he has to offer. Even when his value is cursed, denied, and insulted. He patiently and graciously endures. Because he is a man. A true man. A genuine man. Not a false facade of a man. And not an anti-man.
He is the all around man. The man who can carry on an intellectual conversation with snooty elites, go toe to toe in the ring with a brute, write a vulnerable love letter to his wife, and reach out a compassionate hand to a peer who has fallen on hard times.
Masculinity has been broadly, and wrongly, labeled as toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is a real thing, but it is not actual masculinity. It is merely a facade of masculinity. It is the little boy's imagination of what masculinity is. True masculinity is far from being toxic. On the contrary it is life giving. It breathes life, hope, energy, confidence, and security into the lives of all of those it interacts with.
True masculinity vulnerably participates in empathy. True masculinity admits error and humbly apologizes for wrongs. True masculinity doesn't look for fights, but it sure know how to finish them when necessary. True masculinity ruthlessly crushes evil when it finds innocence being taken advantage of.
The capacity for gentleness and the capacity for absolute ruthless savagery, each when appropriate - along with the wisdom to choose the appropriate action in each case. These are the defining characteristics of the Proper Savage.
All this being said, the path of the Proper Savage is not the exclusive domain of men. Women too are created with an incredible capacity for the characteristics expounded on above, but in their own unique way. As usual, there is a complimentary, perfectly fitting balance between man and woman. Much like the perfect fit of two puzzle pieces that are made to go connect together.