We know from stories whether factual or fiction, that one of men's greatest weakness is women. These women seems to have been the reason (or a great part of it) that have caused great men (and nations) to fall.
I can name quite a few of these stories off-hand. They are:
1. The story of Adam and Eve
I got this verbatim from Wiki. It says,
"In Abrahamic religion, the Fall of Man, or simply, the Fall refers to the first humans' transition from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God"
2. The story of Samson and Delilah.
I don't know what made Samson love Delilah as much as he did. Of all the stories I know, this one is my all-time favorite. I will go a little into the story later on.
3. The Story of Caius Julius Caesar and his Mistress Cleopatra
Despite what was written in many historic sources, that Julius Caesar took Cleopatra as his mistress and eventually a wife (Despite Rome's law that a Roman citizen must marry another Roman woman) to further his political power, I feel that somewhere inside Caesar really did love Cleopatra in his own quiet (maybe selfish) ways
4. In recent times, there was also the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal.
5. In many other stories, I'm sure that you have seen women being sent as spies into the ranks of important men as prostitutes. (This has always been a popular military espionage strategy)
Before I further elaborate my thoughts, I think that I should clarify that I am in no way trying to be stereotypical. I also advocate the notion and widespread belief of the saying:
"Behind every successful men, there is woman"
But I'll just leave that thought for another day.
I want to cover briefly the story of Samson and Delilah.
I Googled for this information
And it came to pass afterward, that he (Samson) loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver (Judges 16:4–5).
This sum amounted to a fortune. Delilah seized the opportunity. She set out to discover the secret of Samson's great strength.
And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man (Judges 16:16–17).
The hair did not give Samson his strength. It was the Nazaritic vow. The hair length was the symbol of that consecration. If the hair were cut the vow would be broken, and Samson could now longer receive God's intervention.
Delilah had no intention of passing up the fortune offered her.
And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison houseJust for the benefit of people who is unclear of the origins of this story. It is from the Christian Bible. Basically Samson was a child chosen by God and blessed with the gift of Superhuman strength. For all the Christian believers who think that Superman's strength existed only in the comics, think again. The Bible says:
And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron (Judges 16:2–3).
Most people who read the Bible fail to comprehend the scope of this feat. Samson did not bother to break down the city gate. He simply ripped the entire structure from the ground and carried it away! These city gates were designed for siege warfare, so it must have weighed some tons. Commentators vary on their view as to how far Samson carried the gate. Whatever the distance, to carry it as far as he did and then to place it on a hilltop was an awesome deed.
I want to digress a little. If we are going to have a Superman/ Hercules in our lives, I don't see why it shouldn't be Samson. (I would like to see a movie featuring this superhero)Even before this story, there have been hints on Samson's vulnerability/weakness towards women. When Samson set forth a riddle for the Philistine
And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle (Judges 14:10–14).
Who could possibly solve this riddle? The Philistines knew they could not solve it without prying the secret out of his wife.
. . . They said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? (Judges 14:15–16).
. . . They said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? (Judges 14:15–16).
Eventually, Samson succumbed to his wife's incessant pleadings and was eventually betrayed by her.
The below is an extract from the book "Why Great Men fall". The Author Wayde Goodall says:
"There are reasons people make bad choices, and it doesn’t happen overnight. There is an evolution — one thought, decision, or move at a time. They decided to go to the wrong place, ask the wrong question, look at illegal or immoral materials, or have a conversation with someone they knew was compromising.
The behavior began somewhere. When their lives are analyzed, there are hints, oversights, and road bumps. The thought process had been going on, but the decision wasn’t made until the opportunity presented itself. I don’t believe this kind of “life altering” failure just hits like a brick on some particular day. There is a process — sometimes it can be short lived— sometimes it works on a person"
This must have been the process of which lead to Samson's eventual death. The story follows that Delilah was the second woman to betray him in a similar manner.
Two questions begin to pop up when I think about this story:
1. Why did Samson love Delilah?
2. Did he still love her even after he was betrayed?
This time round, I tried to Yahoo! out and answer. I keywords I typed was:
"Women" "Men's Weakness"
Here is a very answer to my query from Yahoo! Answers
The question set forth by a user is "Why is women's beauty some men's weakness?"
The best answer that was voted was:
"It's all about science and human nature my friend. Men are pre-programmed to have an emotional response to physical beauty. It has been well documented and proven by science. Women do not have the same response to a good looking man and usually have a hard time understanding why we have to look. You can't beat yourself senseless over your biological programming. You have to accept it and move on. It will never stop, no matter which super model you are married to....It's the natural urge to pro-create because of their physical characteristics.
What makes a real man is the ability to recognize, admire and then leave it alone. And that part is the hardest."
I am guilty of this biased behavior. If a girl (that I have a good impression of) sincerely asks for my help in certain matters, for example in her studies, it is most likely that I would lend some assistance. On the other extreme, if a guy asks for my help on the same matter, I might think to myself "WTF. You got hands, you got legs, you have eyes, you have a brain. Go find out for yourself la. You lazy piece of shit!" Of course I realize the important of tactfulness and I might give the reply and say "I also dunno leh. How ah?" Anyway I am reminded of how Cornflake gave the examination notes I made for them away to two guys I abhor, Dan and Gene. I got mad and threw a Mok-like tantrum. On reflection, I realize how petty I was. Even though Cornflake apologized to me, I must say to her again, Sorry Cornflake! Oh yeah even though I said that I have a tendency to help females more than males, another reason is because I feel that guys should take the effort to become someone dependable. Even if we do badly after , say the examinations, than we should use our failure as a solid ground for further improvement because there will come a time when the people you love will be depending on you for answers and the decisions that you make- You will want to prepare yourself for that. I am not that "Cheehong" lah. haha. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Darwin's Law.
You may have doubt about the part where he says "Well documented and proven by science." I know I did, so I did a little more research find sources that sources that proves his point. The biological instincts that men have to protect women have existed since time immemorial. In the book "Why Men earn more" by Warren Farrel, he says,
"Men resent women who seek special protection. Nonetheless they offer it. And sometimes they compete to offer it- with the conscious or unconscious hope that it will be rewarded by her smile, her warmth, her flirtation, or sometimes, something more." Throughout this book, the Author gave many statistical proof of his findings. I suspect that Samson's love for Delilah might have to do with the beauty (physical) that she held. Samson had two weaknesses.
The first weakness was that He must not shave his hair lest because that was the source of his strength. The second weakness was his vulnerability to protect the women that he loved. He wanted to protect the heart of the woman he love, Delilah. If by revealing to her his first weakness, that Delilah's heart would not be protected, than was what he chose to do. But whether or not that was the right action to do, I cannot comment. Because he was eventually captured by the Philistines, he blinded and humiliated, that he eventually managed to defeat them in one of their great feast- when he was bound by chains to two of the building's supporting Pillars. I'll
Obviously, if you are a Christian Believer than the story of Samson and Delilah must be true. By faith, every other part of the bible must be true too. This means that Delilah cannot blamed entirely for Samson's death.
The bible also says:
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful.
He will keep the temptation from being so strong that you can’t stand up against it.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not
give in to it
(1 Cor. 10:13;NLT, emphasis added)
I like this part of the Bible. It reinforces my believe of the need to take responsibility for the results in our lives- To live above the line. How often have we heard people after having a setback say:
"This wouldn't have happened if only. . . ."
"This was so and so's fault.".
The list goes on.
I was watching an Anime from Bandai yesterday. The show is called Gundam 00. In episode 10, Colonel Sergias was commanding 2 battle fleets in a battle against a private military organization, that uses Mobile armor called Gundam suites in their battle to end war. Eventually despite the Colonel Sergia's superior military strategies and excellent leadership abilities, his fleet was obliterated. When you watch that episode, you will realize that what happened couldn't possibly be prevented by the Colonel. The Gundam suites were much too technological advanced . Given the resources that was placed forth in the Colonel's hands it was near impossible for him to capture the suits. The Colonel after his failed mission and loss of a great number of soldiers instead said
"This is entirely my fault"
Just a second after that, the Colonel had an amazing resolve to take actions to minimize damage. If he couldn't capture a suit than he would just take a head or arm off them. This was heavily contrasted by one of the female leaders of the Gundam faction. When the Gundam fleet suffered great damage too and revealed one of their biggest Military secrets to the Colonel, their leader and some of her crew, just broke down and cried and cried.
Great men and leaders take responsibility for all the shortcomings all the people under them. They look back only to reflect their mistakes and learn from it. After Samson was captured by their Philistines, his resolve was only to destroy his enemy.
The Philistines were not aware of the significance of the hair. They did not bother to keep it trimmed, as they saw he was no further threat. "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven" (Judges 16:22). They now chose to make public example of him. "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand" (Judges 16:23). They placed Samson in their public arena. A huge crowd was present. Samson asked the lad who led him onto the floor to place his hands on the two pillars that supported the arena.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life (Judges 16:26–30).
Picture this image. Samson in his last desperate attempt to honor God, used all his strength to bow down on his knees with his hands secured to the Pillars of the house of the Philistines, thus bringing down their entire building. It is simply picture perfect and leaves a great resounding "Wow" in my heart.
The choices we make is a reflection of a men's personality. And it is this personality that lends us away from temptation. Thus the reason why great men fall is no longer the issue, since there is no point putting the blame on women or another other matter. Everybody faces the similar temptations. What matters is whether or not we take the bait. Everybody falls down from time to time. The events that follow are truly the important ones. Are we going to succumb to circumstances or react to it? What would you do?
The behavior began somewhere. When their lives are analyzed, there are hints, oversights, and road bumps. The thought process had been going on, but the decision wasn’t made until the opportunity presented itself. I don’t believe this kind of “life altering” failure just hits like a brick on some particular day. There is a process — sometimes it can be short lived— sometimes it works on a person"
This must have been the process of which lead to Samson's eventual death. The story follows that Delilah was the second woman to betray him in a similar manner.
Two questions begin to pop up when I think about this story:
1. Why did Samson love Delilah?
2. Did he still love her even after he was betrayed?
This time round, I tried to Yahoo! out and answer. I keywords I typed was:
"Women" "Men's Weakness"
Here is a very answer to my query from Yahoo! Answers
The question set forth by a user is "Why is women's beauty some men's weakness?"
The best answer that was voted was:
"It's all about science and human nature my friend. Men are pre-programmed to have an emotional response to physical beauty. It has been well documented and proven by science. Women do not have the same response to a good looking man and usually have a hard time understanding why we have to look. You can't beat yourself senseless over your biological programming. You have to accept it and move on. It will never stop, no matter which super model you are married to....It's the natural urge to pro-create because of their physical characteristics.
What makes a real man is the ability to recognize, admire and then leave it alone. And that part is the hardest."
I am guilty of this biased behavior. If a girl (that I have a good impression of) sincerely asks for my help in certain matters, for example in her studies, it is most likely that I would lend some assistance. On the other extreme, if a guy asks for my help on the same matter, I might think to myself "WTF. You got hands, you got legs, you have eyes, you have a brain. Go find out for yourself la. You lazy piece of shit!" Of course I realize the important of tactfulness and I might give the reply and say "I also dunno leh. How ah?" Anyway I am reminded of how Cornflake gave the examination notes I made for them away to two guys I abhor, Dan and Gene. I got mad and threw a Mok-like tantrum. On reflection, I realize how petty I was. Even though Cornflake apologized to me, I must say to her again, Sorry Cornflake! Oh yeah even though I said that I have a tendency to help females more than males, another reason is because I feel that guys should take the effort to become someone dependable. Even if we do badly after , say the examinations, than we should use our failure as a solid ground for further improvement because there will come a time when the people you love will be depending on you for answers and the decisions that you make- You will want to prepare yourself for that. I am not that "Cheehong" lah. haha. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Darwin's Law.
You may have doubt about the part where he says "Well documented and proven by science." I know I did, so I did a little more research find sources that sources that proves his point. The biological instincts that men have to protect women have existed since time immemorial. In the book "Why Men earn more" by Warren Farrel, he says,
"Men resent women who seek special protection. Nonetheless they offer it. And sometimes they compete to offer it- with the conscious or unconscious hope that it will be rewarded by her smile, her warmth, her flirtation, or sometimes, something more." Throughout this book, the Author gave many statistical proof of his findings. I suspect that Samson's love for Delilah might have to do with the beauty (physical) that she held. Samson had two weaknesses.
The first weakness was that He must not shave his hair lest because that was the source of his strength. The second weakness was his vulnerability to protect the women that he loved. He wanted to protect the heart of the woman he love, Delilah. If by revealing to her his first weakness, that Delilah's heart would not be protected, than was what he chose to do. But whether or not that was the right action to do, I cannot comment. Because he was eventually captured by the Philistines, he blinded and humiliated, that he eventually managed to defeat them in one of their great feast- when he was bound by chains to two of the building's supporting Pillars. I'll
Obviously, if you are a Christian Believer than the story of Samson and Delilah must be true. By faith, every other part of the bible must be true too. This means that Delilah cannot blamed entirely for Samson's death.
The bible also says:
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful.
He will keep the temptation from being so strong that you can’t stand up against it.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not
give in to it
(1 Cor. 10:13;NLT, emphasis added)
I like this part of the Bible. It reinforces my believe of the need to take responsibility for the results in our lives- To live above the line. How often have we heard people after having a setback say:
"This wouldn't have happened if only. . . ."
"This was so and so's fault.".
The list goes on.
I was watching an Anime from Bandai yesterday. The show is called Gundam 00. In episode 10, Colonel Sergias was commanding 2 battle fleets in a battle against a private military organization, that uses Mobile armor called Gundam suites in their battle to end war. Eventually despite the Colonel Sergia's superior military strategies and excellent leadership abilities, his fleet was obliterated. When you watch that episode, you will realize that what happened couldn't possibly be prevented by the Colonel. The Gundam suites were much too technological advanced . Given the resources that was placed forth in the Colonel's hands it was near impossible for him to capture the suits. The Colonel after his failed mission and loss of a great number of soldiers instead said
"This is entirely my fault"
Just a second after that, the Colonel had an amazing resolve to take actions to minimize damage. If he couldn't capture a suit than he would just take a head or arm off them. This was heavily contrasted by one of the female leaders of the Gundam faction. When the Gundam fleet suffered great damage too and revealed one of their biggest Military secrets to the Colonel, their leader and some of her crew, just broke down and cried and cried.
Great men and leaders take responsibility for all the shortcomings all the people under them. They look back only to reflect their mistakes and learn from it. After Samson was captured by their Philistines, his resolve was only to destroy his enemy.
The Philistines were not aware of the significance of the hair. They did not bother to keep it trimmed, as they saw he was no further threat. "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven" (Judges 16:22). They now chose to make public example of him. "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand" (Judges 16:23). They placed Samson in their public arena. A huge crowd was present. Samson asked the lad who led him onto the floor to place his hands on the two pillars that supported the arena.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life (Judges 16:26–30).
Picture this image. Samson in his last desperate attempt to honor God, used all his strength to bow down on his knees with his hands secured to the Pillars of the house of the Philistines, thus bringing down their entire building. It is simply picture perfect and leaves a great resounding "Wow" in my heart.
The choices we make is a reflection of a men's personality. And it is this personality that lends us away from temptation. Thus the reason why great men fall is no longer the issue, since there is no point putting the blame on women or another other matter. Everybody faces the similar temptations. What matters is whether or not we take the bait. Everybody falls down from time to time. The events that follow are truly the important ones. Are we going to succumb to circumstances or react to it? What would you do?
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People should read this.
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