A letter from Wunibald to Brandon when he was a smoll bean: Happy Birthday Brandon,I wish it were easy to tell you what being a man entails, all I can say is that for most of your life you will battle between who you think you want to be, and who you truly are. Whichever path you choose, I will clap my hands until they are red and raw in the front row. (Part 1)
(Part 2) Don’t let others make you feel like less of a man because you can’t carry an axe or have no hand eye coordination to ride a horse. Your manliness should never be measured by simplistic attributes that society will tell you that you need to possess. Instead, your manliness will be based upon the love you carry with you as you live your life.
(Part 3) There will be days that I will yell, or scream and punish you. Understand that I am only human and sometimes I won’t always know just what it means to be a father, but I do promise to try my best. There will be days that you want to hate me or slam a door in my face. These are the days you will look back on and recall just how flawed we all are- even the people we think are our perfect heroes.
(Part 4) Above all us, what I want you to understand is that the man you become will be a culmination of the people you influence and the lives you touch. Many will boast that being a good man has to do with honesty, and integrity, and power. Partially they’ll be right, but what I need you to understand is that being a good man comes from owning the humanity you were born with to treat everyone around you like the beautiful thoughtful humans they are
To see past your own wants and desires and fears, and truly feel what those around you need. When you learn to give exactly what the ones you love need, and not just what they want, is when you’ll begin to grow and expand to see yourself as the man you were meant to be. I look forward to this day, and I will always be proud of you. Love, always, your Father (End)
(Joke aside, now as an adult he still carries that letter and understands what Wunibald meant… he’s not sure if he took the right path though but that letter does help him to “not cross the line” 8′D <3 … )