[WanderingSoul]

Loyalty above all else.

I have a friend I grew up with who is what most people would consider a loser. Early 30s, working minimum wage, lives in a trailer, slowly plodding away at Junior College without much success, not really attempting to better his life, etc.

However, if I called him at 3AM and told him I needed him to bring his pistol to my house, he would do it. No questions asked. If I were in trouble I know I can count on him 100%.

I love and trust that man more than almost anyone. If he called me at 3AM and told me he were in trouble I would be there at the drop of a hat to help him.

Even if a man is not a good man, if he is a loyal man, that is the most important thing.

There's a saying my father always drilled into me growing up. "Your brother's not always right, but he's always your brother". To me that means loyalty is #1, and if your brother does something you don't agree with, he's still your brother and you have to show him loyalty and back his play even if it's a situation when you know he's wrong.

Honesty, integrity, reliability, etc. are all very important as well, but loyalty is #1.

[mickeyd]

-Free-thinking, redpill, etc

-Loyal/Trustworthy

-Physically in-shape

[greekgod]

-grounded, not in the yoga way but in the dude is the same with a hot chick in the room as he is with his boys or his grandmother. A common theme with people I've learned not to trust that I initially let close was their "Mr. Nice Guy Chameleon" act. I'd prefer some dude giving me some locker room shit from the get go and we earn each others respect than the overly accommodating "step on no toes" guy.
-high level of self esteem. If either of you have plans for success, the natural inclination should be "ok, time to up my level in that area" or "good for you, go get em" I'm not interested in that battle but I hope you crush it.
-self sufficiency/accountability.

[Alsos]

Lots of good qualities.

I'll add that my favorite friends are men who challenge me to be a better man intellectually, spiritually, athletically, in character, or in lifestyle.

[MrLemon]

It's very sad to say, as you age, you lose male friends. It's just the way of things.

Enjoy your buddies while you can. The best men will call you on your crap and tell you when you are fucking up your life, but in a cheerful way.

[Kamikaze]

1. Unpretentious. Not a snob.
2. Not a bitch.
3. Holds rationality and reason above all. Which, to me, is the ultimate definition, and function, of being a man.

I'd like to include a note about loyalty. Loyalty is important and desirable. But expectations of loyalty should be bounded by reason. There are people who abuse your friendship by asking you to do things that are not right. Do I want someone to have my back if I'm getting jumped by 2 dudes? Of course. And I'll reciprocate. Do I want to help a guy dispose of a body because he helped me move my TV into a new house, because he found the dude balls deep in his girlfriend? No. That's just not reasonable, and extremely selfish. Because no matter what, I would not ask anyone to do so. It is my problem.

This is not in keeping with the tone of this thread but I guess I just wanted to say it. In Spanish there's a saying: "Un amigo es un peso en el bolsillo."

It has two literal translations depending on how you choose to translate "peso."
1. A friend is a dollar in your pocket.
2. A friend is a weight in your pocket.

Some people can't handle the burden of helping you. NASA Test Pilot said it succinctly.

(04-11-2016 04:53 PM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  

A man who can count would not be on my list.

I had a friend, who was like a brother to me, that highly values loyalty as some say in this thread. I am now eternally wary of people who romanticize 'loyalty' in the way he does.

[WanderingSoul]

(04-12-2016 02:26 AM)Kamikaze Wrote:  

2. Not a bitch.

I had a friend, who was like a brother to me, that highly values loyalty as some say in this thread. I am now eternally wary of people who romanticize 'loyalty' in the way he does.

A disloyal man is worse than a bitch.

Bitches have no loyalty to their man, or even their friends.

You know not to trust a bitch, but you should be able to trust someone you call a brother, and not only a friend.

I'd never ask one my brothers, the few whom I call that, to help me do anything that would seriously put them at risk, unless it was legitimately life or death. Obviously this is very unlikely to ever happen.

My point about my brother bringing a gun to my house if I asked him wasn't to say he would murder someone in cold blood for me, but if I were in trouble, or my family, I can trust him to help me any way possible.

That doesn't mean murdering someone who ripped me off for $10,000. It means if someone were trying to hurt me or my family, he's one of the few people I trust who would drop everything and rush over to help, even if it were a dangerous situation.

That's loyalty. Loyalty isn't helping him dump the body of some dude who fucked his wife. Though, I might bust the guys nose the next time I saw him around town.