Week 15 2013 I’m a Travelin’ Man

Do you remember that old Ricky Nelson tune, “Travelin’ Man?”  You probably do if you are a baby boomer.  It’s a catchy little tune that speaks of a man who travels the world, leaving a different girl in each port.  That was the mantra for the worldly man of that period.  Unfortunately, the relationships were one-sided.  The double-standard was that if was alright for a man to have multiple women in his life, while it was shameful for a woman to do the same with men.  In fact, such a man was supposedly sought after by women.  However, if a woman demonstrated such voyeurism she was rejected.  Such attitudes gave rise to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine and others of the same ilk.

The feminist movement changed everything.  Women are no longer held to that old double-standard, or are they?  While it is true that the modern woman can now have as many men as she wants with very little shame, she is still being exploited by the very same chauvinistic views that once held her down several decades ago.  The flaw in fixing the double-standard was in women adopting the darker side of man for themselves, instead of demanding that men turn from their sinful way of living to the wholesome manner God intended.  Instead of exalting those who would have multiple partners, we should be honoring those who are strong enough to stay with one for life.  For women and men to be truly liberated, we need to lift one another out of the miry filth of public exhibition.  We should demand that our mates, be they male or female, reserve themselves for marriage where we can honor one another, without exploiting that which could be beautiful by making it ugly and cheap.

Rather than being a travelin’ man, leaving a different woman in every port, I choose to be a travelin’ man, sharing different memories with the one I love.  The rewards are greater and the memories richer.  We honor each other, and we honor our Lord, when choose to take this path instead of the one that depends on denigrating another.

“Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.”  Ecclesiastes 9:9