Growing up in a single parent home is a hard task for any child to have to go through. Being a male surrounded by just females in the home is even more difficult. Through my experiences being surrounded by females I’ve learned two types of morals, major morals and minor morals. One of those major morals is to never think or put into the act of striking a female, and support those who have been hit. A minor moral is something small such as putting the toilet seat down after you flush. Although these may not seem like a big deal or may not even be considered a moral in some people’s eyes, they are in mine.

As of recently in today’s society one of the main morals I believe in, not striking a woman, is obviously not in other peoples handy dandy moral phanny pack. There are hundreds of domestic violence calls each and every day in which a woman has been battered by some man and he calls it self-defense. Domestic violence is not something that only goes on in middle class or lower class families, it is broadcasted on television every once in a while about celebrities. Famous actress, Hallie Berry, reported of being hit so hard by one of her ex companions that she lost hearing in one of her ears. That is not the only celebrity accused of male on female violence, Chris Brown, Bobby Brown, and Ike Turner were also big names who have been rightly accused of placing their hands on a female in a harmful manner. It has been taken lightly by many people, but not I.

When I first heard about the Hallie Berry incident it was around the time my parents were constantly fighting. Although I knew when my dad did come around, he would never put his hands on my mother my guard was still up. It seems as if men in today’s society feel the need to do the immoral thing and strike a women to express some type of authority over them, but they are wrong. Women tend to respect a man who puts the toilet seat down for them just as much as a man who strikes them. The type of men who treat their women like queens give me joy because it does not disregard my moral in anyways at all. I look at my morals as things I am destined to pass from generation to generation because they aren’t just morals, they are family taught lessons. Even though they were taught to me by women, they helped me become a better man. Men are beginning to gain a bad reputation. We have changed from taking a rib from ourselves to creating women into monsters who batter, beat, and bruise the ribs and other body parts of woman. When I see or hear about actions that occur like this, it enrages me. To be unsettle by a moral that is so dear to my heart makes me wish that these crimes that are committed do not go unpunished.

In the year of 2009, I was faced with an obstacle that I will never forget, much like Mr. Wallace faced in “Consider the Lobster”. I was in an area where I had mixed feelings about a matter but did not really care at the moment. The same way the author was at the lobster fair and wasn’t really sure how to feel about the situation. There was a young female friend of mine who was in what appeared to be the most loving and caring relationship ever. She was head over heels for her boyfriend and if you said anything bad about him or tried to become more than friends with her she would retaliate fiercely. One day I was talking to her on the phone and she just broke down and began to cry for no reason at all. I, being one of her closest friends, both figuratively and literally ran to her house to see what was wrong. As I began to enter the house she was in the corner of her own house crying while her so called boyfriend hovered over her, fist balled up in rage. Without hesitation I dashed towards him and threw him to the ground, we began to brawl. Needless to say they are no longer in a relationship and till this day she is my best friend and I interrogate each and every one of her boyfriends.

I try to stay away from violence as much as possible, engaging him in a brawl was my only resort at that moment, and my emotions were all over the place. If this situation would’ve been different, such as them yelling or cyber bullying I would’ve just contacted him and spoke with him before the altercation even amplified to a physical aspect. Respect has a lot to do with this I believe that no physical or verbal altercation is serious enough for a male to place his hands with intent to harm on a female. I just hope and pray that my morals not only will be in my mind and heart, but will also be in everyone else’s.