A Man I’ll Never Be

I was listening to a podcast recently in which the presenter kept saying he wanted to thank someone who had been a tremendous help in making his show successful. When he finally came to the end, he revealed that person to be his wife. Before I could dismiss this as a gimmick, he explained why he wanted to do it publicly. According to him our culture today encourages jokes on wives / marriage to the point that we assume most of the sarcasm to be true. When I thought about it I realized this could also be a reason why I was taking my wife for granted. This was a good wake up call.

“You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you see
A man I’ll never be

If only I could find a way
I’d feel like I’m the man you believe I am
And it’s getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I’ll never be

I can’t get any stronger
I can’t climb any higher
You’ll never know just how hard I’ve tried
Cry a little longer
And hold a little tighter
Emotions can’t be satisfied

You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you still see
A man I’ll never be

If only I could find a way
I’d feel like I’m the man you believe I am
And it’s getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I’ll never be.”

-A Man I’ll Never Be, Boston (1978)

This is why I love my wife. She loves me dearly despite the fact that I think I’ll never be the “man” she believes me to be. That’s why this song has a more hopeful tone whenever I listen to it.