It’s Over. Young Men Should Just Give Up.

If you talk to young men about life today you’ll hear a lot of the following:

“I can’t get a job.” “I’ll never own a house.” “Dating prospects are awful.” “Older generations had it way easier than we do.”

Gen Z and the younger Gen Alpha are cooked. It’s over.

Except, these guys keep complaining. It doesn’t end.

Turns out, it’s not over. They keep going. Life goes on.

Since life is going on, you may as well make the most of it, right? But where to start? And what does this have to do with history? Well, I’ll get to that last one shortly.

Let’s just take the young man's complaint at face value. Things are harder. Life is more difficult. Society is worse. Whatever the complaint, it may very well be true.

Now what?

Do you expect decades of inflation or wage stagnation to reverse overnight? Do you imagine a beautiful young girl will see your complaints and reach out, offering to… date a complainer? Do you think (or want?) older generations will hear you and give you a handout?

None of those things are going to happen.

This Friday’s special edition of the Athenaeum was written by Michael—follow him on X for more.

While there may be others (like myself) trying to do things to make things better for future generations (I have two very young sons), ultimately your destiny is going to be most influenced by your own actions.

Think of a great man in your family. Or, if everyone you can remember is not of any particular note for whatever reason, think of a great man in your tradition. Think of a great man in Western Civilization.

Do you know what all great men, in any part of history, have in common?

They put the vast majority of their focus and efforts into controlling as much as possible and bending the results to their will. Whether we are talking about Kings, warriors, artists, seminal theologians, authors, farmers, tradesmen.. All great men, known or unknown, are men of action.

This is why you need to look to the men of the past as role models for action. As Ralph of Caen says in the very first lines of the Gesta Tancredi, “..to set out a past life as a model for later generations.”

The primary purpose of history is inspiration. Aspiration. These are your ancestors, can you match them? Can you surpass them?

If you think you have it tough, you can model your resolve off of somebody who had it tougher. Bayard, in his infamous duel against Soto Mayor, was dealing with a years-long bout of illness. He still had to fight. To the death. He had to kill Soto Mayor to reclaim his honor.

If you think you have to persevere, you can model your perseverance off of the first crusaders who left home and spent years in foreign lands to liberate Jerusalem. Many starved to death. They were outnumbered, undersupplied, in enemy territory, and still accomplished their goal.

If you think it’s over, you can remember that Spain was almost entirely conquered by Muslims. There were a few hundred Christian warriors in the last remaining mountains in 732. 800 years later, they managed to kick the Muslims completely off of the peninsula.

History, the history of the people in specifically your tradition, can be a very powerful tool of inspiration. Reminding you what your ancestors achieved. Driving you to equal or outdo them.

This is one of the main thrusts of my project at Memory Medieval. I have two very young sons and I want to revive heroic history so my sons have heroes to emulate. This is one reason I recorded the audiobook, “Duelling Stories of the Sixteenth Century”. The young men in that book had levels of energy, verve, resolve, and courage that we should aspire to emulate.

You can listen to the audiobook here but I will leave you with one other story from the book (besides Bayard, above).

There was a young man named Gensac, from Gascony. He had an argument with another man and with each man with his hand on the sword, a friend of his opponent stepped in and told him that he couldn’t attack his friend without his stepping in. Gensac, against two men at the same time, said “Do you think one man can't fight two at once. Why, the history books are full of it! And so will I! Come on, both of you!"

He meant to fight both of them at the same time!

But just then, friends of all three men jumped in and restrained them, separating them, and the fight never happened.

Later, some of Gensac’s friends were all gathered around and one said to him, “My good fellow, what did you mean to do?”

“Mean.” Gensac said. “Mort Dieu! I meant to be mentioned in the Chronicles!”

For a young man with Gensac’s energy, simply being remembered was enough to risk his life.

If you can find a way to tap into those levels of energy, the troubles of today (mentioned at the top) will seem light and enjoyable for you to overcome.

Aspire to the level of your best ancestors!

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