One Thing Every Man Needs

Without This, You are Incomplete

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado

There are truths to life that are timeless and good things that will always be worth aiming for. During peacetime or war, strain or ease, comfort or suffering - these eternal truths maintain a constant significance through it all.

Sadly, they go unnoticed by most.

The vast majority of people float through life unconsciously. It’s as if the moment of their birth to the time of their death is all a dream. They are only witness to their lives, not the cause of its direction. A jumble of external events throws them around until the curtains are drawn.

Every once in a while the world is forced to feel the effects of this in a major way…

Conscious realization to the fact that you are alive is the first step to living a good life. But, what if that never happens? Just as an unconscious man floats through life and is thrown around by the world he can be used as a tool by anyone who sees that he in not in control of himself.

The most major event of the last 20 years is perfect proof of this. It’s right before our eyes - clear as day. And, we don’t even have to look back at Stalin’s Red Army, Mao’s Red Guard, the Nazis…and American vets…

Mini Revelations

Every once in a while something happens in the world (or to a specific civilization) that is so jarringly evil.

I like to think of these times as mini revelations where there’s hell on earth and no escaping it.

The most recent event was COVID, no doubt about it. In the blink of an eye you watch your neighbors turn into enemies, mass use of an experimental vaccination, travel restrictions, and people forced to stay at home while their family members died in the hospital.

Not to mention myocarditis, Bell’s Palsy, kids dropping dead at basketball games, fertility issues…

On top of that you had the huge wave of wokeness spread throughout the country and even into schools. Kids were being indoctrinated daily to believe that they were racist if they were white and, if they were male, sexist.

It was everywhere. I witnessed it myself and you can read more about that in these articles (Weaponized “Education” and Weaponized “Education” Part 2).

All the while, Black Lives Matter “peaceful protesters” were aiming to kill, steal, and destroy…with free reign to do so.

You couldn’t do anything about 99% of everything that happened.

But, that 1%…your personal choices - what you chose to do, how you acted - was (and always is) up to you. The events of that time and any other time like it were worsened by the inability for people to have control over themselves.

You give evil people an inch and they always take a mile.

And it isn’t hard to crack someone who lives unconsciously…

Sometimes we forget that the figures who caused the most pain and suffering in the world had millions of (what were previously considered) “normal” people to do their dirty work.

Millions.

Take the Other Path

Those eternal truths and higher goods worth striving for can only be attained through personal effort - consistent, daily.

As Zeno of Citium said, “Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” One of the truths of life is that it is virtuous to have control over yourself. If you do, not only will you not fall victim to evil people, but you also won’t become one yourself…

You won’t drag “traitors” to the regime out of their home at 3am. You won’t bend the knee. You won’t allow the evil which presents itself before you to continue without confrontation. You won’t be led like a dog on a leash by animalistic desires. You won’t float through life.

But, how do you get on the right path?

You develop something every man must have - a moral code.

Written instructions to yourself about how you will live…aimed at becoming a good man. Telling yourself what you will and will not allow yourself to do. Everyday you must read your code and seek to live by it.

A man with a moral code will not allow himself to be used or put down by a tyrant. He won’t allow himself to sell his soul in exchange for wealth, fame, or other material possessions. He confronts the evil that shows up at his door. He seeks the truth and wants others to find it too. When it all comes down to it - even when the cards are stacked against him and he is faced with suffering or death - he does the right thing.

Here’s my moral code to use as an example:

• I will not engage in any act I deem shameful

• I will be kind and generous

• I will take aggressive action against any addiction or undesirable personal attribute

• I will be hard working and industrious

• I shall not complain about any endurable condition

• I will seek to develop the virtues of discipline, courage, wisdom, strength, compassion, sincerity, humility, magnanimity, and temperance

• I will seek to make things better around me by learning skills, encouraging others, possessing a positive attitude, and building things that encourage beauty and growth

• I will not be bought for any price

I read this every morning and every night.

It centers my focus on what truly matters to me: becoming the man I wish to be and aiming for the highest good.

Over the years I have developed this code. Every once in a while it changes slightly, which is par for the course. But, it has worked wonders - allowing me to define what exactly is evil and what is good, what is right action and what isn’t.

And, I can’t help but wonder…what would the world look like if every man had a moral code?

P.S. The topic of morality and virtue is by far one of the most difficult to talk about. No matter how much you say there is always something more that needs to be said. Morality and virtue lead to the eternal goods and highest truths - they need to be understood and sought after. I think we should talk about this specific idea more fairly soon.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith