There's more to being a man that seeing how many phone numbers you can get or who you convince to sleep with you. Being a man means bearing responsibility and accepting the consequences for your actions. This means the most to me because of my pop, Leonard Smith. He's really my little brother and sister's dad, but he became mine, too.
             My real dad never been much help to me but Pop always has. I remember Christmases from my childhood where he'd walk in the door Christmas morning with a huge trash bag filled with toys and other Christmas goodies. It may not been something that I had asked for, but I enjoyed whatever I got just the same.
             Pop taught me skills I would need to survive on my own. He taught me patience, sensitivity, courteousness, tolerance, and to keep my priorities straight. He even calls to surprise and asks, "Why you're not in class?" Pop always treated me like I was his son. It means a lot to me that he stepped in my life since my biological dad "didn't have the money" to be there for me. Pop was always free to listen to me. I could talk to him about my gripes with life and about how my momma had a hard time to adjusting to me getting older.
             My momma is overprotective. She always has the best in mind when she makes a decision, but sometimes I think she doesn't. Pop taught me, instead of arguing against what I found unfair, under certain circumstances, to bear with it and finish. That has to be one of the top rules to life.
             Pop always found a way to show me a different way to life, things that I haven't been exposed to. From visits to the YMCA to watching the Olympic Torch bearers jog through Centennial Park, Pop showed me that I could have pride in myself and in my country. We would always be in attendance to some event that displayed togetherness as a people.
             Pop even instilled in me my love and pride in TSU. Almost every...