Steve Harvey - Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

Now, there are different ways to provide besides monetarily. Your man could be broke, but he's going to do everything within his power to make up for this by supplying your needs in other tangible ways. If you're running low on groceries, he may not be able to give you money to go to the store, but he might have a little extra something in his refrigerator and pantry to hold you over until he can give you a couple of dollars. In other words, he's not going to let you go hungry. If your car is broken down, he may not be able to pay for a mechanic, but he can call his buddies over to help him move your ride to the side of the road and give you rides to work until he.gures out how to pay for your car to get.xed. If you need some pictures hung, and the sink unclogged, and a new garage door installed, a man who loves you will climb up a twenty-foot ladder to get that picture up on the wall, put a bucket down to catch the over.owing water from the sink while he goes to.nd the right part he needs to.x the pipes, and pore through the instruction manual for hours to.gure out how to get that garage door in. Providing for the ones he loves and cares about, whether it's monetarily or with sweat equity, is a part of a man's DNA, and if he loves and cares for you, this man will provide for you all these things with no limits.

When a man truly loves you, anybody who says, does, suggests, or even thinks about doing something offensive to you stands the risk of being obliterated. Your man will destroy anything and everything in his path to make sure that whoever disrespected you pays for it. This is his nature. You pick most any male species on the planet, and the same is true: no one is going to disrespect their family without paying a cost or at least putting up a serious.ght. This is innate recognized and respected from the.rst relationship that a boy has, that relationship being with his mother. He may not know what unconditional love is yet, but a boy child will never (a)admit that his mother is capable of making mistakes, or (b) let someone say or do something to his mother. This is taught to males practically from the womb cover your mother, protect her, don't let anybody say anything about her or do anything to her, and if they do, let them know it's time to take it outside. This is most certainly the way it was taught in my house, too. I remember distinctly when I was a little boy, probably around age eight or so, standing there waiting for my mother to pull on her coat for our bus ride downtown. My father came in the room and said, very simply, You and your mother are going downtown watch out for your mother. That was rule number one in my father's house: Do not come back in this house without your mother and your sisters. You might as well kill yourself or get on a bus and go somewhere else, but don't come back without your mother and the girls. Now, I knew good and hell well that if anybody so much as raised a.nger to my mother, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it that she was really taking care of me on that bus. But, buddy, I'd be on the bus and in the store with my little chest stuck out, swearing I was doing something to protect my family.

Because that was what I was supposed to do.

Indeed, that is what every man is supposed to and is willing to do for the people for whom he professes and provides. Once he says he cares about you, you are a prized possession to him, he will do anything to protect that prized possession. If he's hearing you argue with a bill collector, he's going to say, Who are you talking to? Let me talk to him right quick. If your ex is calling and bringing drama in your life, your man is going to talk to him about it. If he sees your kids are cutting up and getting out of hand, he's going to talk to them, too. In other words, he's going to be providing protection and leadership for his family because he knows a real man is a protector. There is not a real man living who will not protect what is his. It's about respect.

I'd argue that this is most certainly one of the key things any woman wants in her man, because it is what girls have been raised to expect that they can count on the most important men in their lives to go to battle for them, and keep them safe from all harm, no matter the cost. I think you all know this so well that you take great care in letting a man who loves you know when someone's been a threat or danger to you, because you know that your man whether he be your father, brother, uncle, husband, or lover is going to do everything in his power and then some to defend your honor. Maybe even hurt somebody, despite the consequences. For instance, you probably don't really want to hype what's going on down at your job because he might head down to the job and have a few words with your boss if necessary. And we all know that would not be a good situation.

I remember one time when my mother was at home and the insurance man came by looking for some money my mother didn't have. My father was at work, so he didn't actually witness this man come to our front door and say to my mother, The next time I come here, you better have this money or else. My dad got wind of the situation from one of my siblings, and when he asked my mother what, exactly, this man said to her, she hesitated and hemmed and hawed for a long time before she.nally broke down and told my father about the exchange. She didn't really want to tell him what went down because she knew my father would snap. When he.nally had the information he needed, my father came to me and asked what time the insurance man usually shows up, and I told him. And the next time that man came by the house, my father was there waiting for him. I'll never forget the image; that man never made it past the back of his car. When we looked out the window, my father had that man bent over the car with both his hands on that man's neck. If you ever say anything disrespectful to my wife again, I will kill you, he said. Now, that may seem a little extreme, but this is what real men do to protect the ones they love.

Protection isn't just about using brute, physical force against someone, though. A man who truly cares about or loves you can and will protect you in other ways, whether it be with advice, or stepping up to perform a task that he thinks is too dangerous for you to do. For instance, if it's dark outside, he may not want you to put the car in the driveway or walk the dog by yourself because he fears for your safety; in this instance, he'll move the cars and walk the dog himself, even if he's just off a double shift, so that you can be inside where it's safe. If you're walking by someone who looks like he might be a threat, a man who loves you is going to protect you by putting himself between you and that guy as you walk by so if he tries anything, he'll have to get through your man before he so much as lays a.nger on you.

My wife, Marjorie, still cracks up when she thinks about how I protected her on a recent joint.shing and diving trip we took in Maui. See, my wife is a certi.ed scuba diver. I am not. When we got out on those choppy waters of the Paci.c Ocean, I couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen to my wife down there, and I wouldn't have any way of protecting her. Nonetheless, she put on all the equipment and began to descend into the water. I got antsy and immediately started lighting up cigars and walking around the boat explaining to the dive masters that this one has to come back. By the time she was actually under the water, I'd told my security guy, who can't scuba dive, to put on his snorkel and get in and keep an eye on her. I'd also told everyone onboard from my manager to the captain that if my wife is not back up here in thirty-.ve minutes, everybody's putting on some suits and we're going to go get her. The guy leading the expedition said as nicely as he could, Sir, everybody can't go down to save one person, but his words meant nothing to me. I'm telling you, I said, getting a little more jumpy with each word, Either everybody goes down there to save her, or I'm killing everybody on the boat. This boat goes nowhere without her, and if it pulls off and she's not on it, that's it for everybody.