What Makes a Man
Jesse Manibusan
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Reviews | You Rate It | Lyrics | Artist Reflection
What makes a man? What's his conception?
Don't understand all this deception.
What makes a man? What's his construction?
Don't understand all this destruction.
This is my body, given up for you.
This is my blood, shed for you.
Forgive, as you have been forgiven,
over and over, again and again.
Forgive, seventy times seven,
over and over, again and again.
No greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.
No greater love than to lift up the life of a friend.
Several years ago, a 16 year old high school student asked me, "Jesse, what do you think about Eminem?" Being way non-hip and totally out of touch with current artists in the rap genre, I simply responded, "Plain or peanut?" The rest is history.
Underneath the beat, the meter, the production, the melody, the rhymes, the flow... underneath all that stuff is something way deep. And I pray every listener would wade into the song for the deep stuff.
What makes a man? Well, when I began writing this song, I considered the kabillion examples and models of men in my life. There was Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Bruce Lee. In the movies these guys had serious skills and power. GI Joe, Captain America, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Jackie Chan....Captain Kirk, Captain Crunch, well, not so much Captain Crunch. Super Men, super powers, super heroes all of them. They would rock, then take a hit, but in the end, they'd figure out a way to win. And they always won. Their powers, their wit and wisdom, their intelligence, their technology, everything about them gave them the power to ultimately win.
These days, and especially during the writing of "What Makes A Man," I think of my grandpa, my dad, my son, and all my brothers. I'm more connected to them as the earlier shapers of what it means to me to be a man, full of light, full of shadows, and still full of grace.
I look to C.PP.S. fathers, Greg Comella, Gene Wilson, and Jim Sloan. I look to Oblate fathers Paul Nourrie and Bryan Silva. I look to Msgr. Ray East. I look to Bishops John Cummins and Tom Gumbleton. I'm more connected to folks like Jerry Goebel, who works with and lives with prison inmates near Yakima, Washington. Then there's Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM and Br. Rufino Zaragoza, OFM, who live in the boldness of Francis and Clare of Assisi. Michael Avolicino, the superheroic "at home" dad. Mike Niece, who left the field of medicine to join his wife Kathy in loving and living with and as the poor as Coastside Catholic Workers. Fr. River Sims who works with youth caught up, trapped, and desperate as sex workers on the streets of San Francisco. There's Zac Moon, the extraordinary peacemaker from the Nevada Desert Experience and Johnny Zokovitch, peacemaker from Pax Christi. And there are other men who reflect the truest and the best of being a man. All in the image of Jesus the rebel, who turned all the tables upside down, welcomed everyone, and gave himself so fully, that his life continues to pour out today, turning today's tables upside down and welcoming still...everyone.
And like Jesus the rebel, all these men, and the many others that form more than the song "What Makes A Man," but more importantly, my life, use their powers for life. Not to win, not to convert, not to conform, not to seek approval, not to seek comfort, but rather, to serve. These men, are simply armed with compassion, humility, understanding, courage, right judgment, mercy, patience, trust, joy, forgiveness...
What makes a man? For me, "no greater love, than to lay down your life for a friend." "This is my body... this is my blood... I am for you.
I pray to be that kind of man....
- Jesse Manibusan
P.S. This song is for grandpa, dad, my son, and my brothers... and especially all the women who formed me.
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