Reply to White folks, is Tim Walz a "unicorn"? (non-political)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]White woman here but I think this post is really insightful. I've long felt white men as a group (and sometimes individually) are struggling with identity. I also feel this way about white women!

I think one interesting thing about Walz is that he has embraced certain classic aspects of masculinity (football coach, military background, his general vibe) while also being an empathetic and clearly caring person (teacher, champion of children's issues, generally warm person). These things shouldn't be in opposition to each other but many men seem to struggle with it and fear appearing "soft." It's basically the whole issue of toxic masculinity and Walz doesn't seem to have struggled with it. He embraces "soft power" and leading with kindness and warmth.[/quote]

As this poster suggests, when the focus of your life isn’t yourself, but rather serving other people, a lot of the “struggle” people seem to have with identity, purpose, etc., seem to evaporate.

Everybody is so focused on “getting ahead” that we rarely talk about leading a life of service in our country anymore outside of military service, ESPECIALLY for men.  Women are expected to basically serve other people, sometimes to such an extreme that we lose ourselves in the process.  There needs to be balance.  Our leaders also de-emphasize service as in choosing service as the purpose of your life. [/quote]

I think there's a lot of truth to this (PP here). And there has been a trend in recent years to look to people emerging from business as political leaders (not just Trump but people like Andrew Yang and even Pete Buttigieg) because culturally we view success in business and making a lot of money as evidence of intelligence and worth. And even outside this paradigm the classic entry into politics usually involves white collar professional success. Like a law degree and legal career. But Walz's background is truly about service and not ambition. Until he ran for Congress in his late 40s his life was just about the kind of quiet service that doesn't get celebrated or glorified much -- teaching school and coaching kids and serving in the National Guard on the weekends.

I would love if the rise of Tim Walz made more young people consider how rewarding and good a life like his early life can be -- a solid and secure job working in service of others combined with some kind of volunteer or commuity focused work. I can see my own kid pursuing this path and I think it would likely lead to more happiness than trying to make a lot of money in business or law or climb a political or professional ladder into prominence.[/quote]

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