Romantic Love

Thanh Nguyen
Prof. Kristina Rogers
Essay 2: draft
Date: 10/22/08
      Guy vs. Man
      In a world full of ethnic, racial, and sexual discriminations, it seems only befitting that we go as far as to draw dividing lines within gender. It has long been disputed that there exist many clearly defined points that set a “guy” apart from a “man”. This subject is often tossed around jokingly, with lines such as “Guys start projects. Men finish them.” This statement places the man in a higher place of professionalism, giving guys no credit for being reliable. A classic contrast between guys and men is that guys are more in touch with their basic instincts (eat, sleep, have fun), where men seem to be more in touch with a sophisticated world (drink fine aged wine, read Crichton, and play golf). Men spend so much time trying to be a better man, guys just do not waste time on such trivial things. Ironically though, it is the man who will always say that he is “just one of the guys”. Although the subject may be viewed from many perspectives, I believe that men are simply guys who have been conditioned to a point that they no longer know who or what they are.
      Men have been conditioned by what they define as “success”. Success drives a man to be a professional in his field, to wear dress shirts and slacks, to put every ounce of energy within into becoming something greater. No matter how powerful or prestigious a man becomes, he will always strive for more. Manhood is defined by an inability to be content, which masks itself as success. Guys, on the other hand, share a different meaning of the word success. To a guy, success does not come in the form of status or stock figures, success comes in the number of suicide chicken wings he can ingest in a period of time, how far he can lob a football, and most importantly, the strength of his friendships. Guys are happy with enjoying life’s simple pleasures, and are content with the notion of doing absolutely nothing. A...