The Four Elements Essential to Man!

I have written this for women. Men of course can read this but this message is something they already know. I am not giving away some great secret about men, I am just revealing to you ladies some insight into what makes us tick. I want to talk about the four elements essential to man. I will not even keep you in suspense. The four elements are Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.


Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. That’s it! That’s the secret. We can all go home now. Not really. I want to explore these essential elements and tell you why they are so important.

A man needs to shape the earth. That’s why our forefathers starting cutting down trees as soon as we landed at Jamestown. We want to use the resources of the land and reshape our property. We plant trees, prune trees, move bushes and make “natural areas” in our yards. A man needs to get involved in the earth beneath his feet. Earth is one of the essential elements a man needs.

A man needs to feel the wind in his face. I like to ride with the windows down even on a hot summer day just to feel the warmth and wind against me. Men like to sail, drive convertibles, ride bikes, run or just stand facing the wind and lean into it. We like to challenge something bigger than ourselves and taunt it. That is one of the reasons you see men outside walking in a hurricane. You don’t see women outside walking around in a storm with 100 mph gust of wind. It’s usually a man who is walking around taunting the wind, leaning into it and hearing my wife say, “You need to come inside!”

A man needs to be near fire. Building a fire, stoking a fire, starting a fire, chopping wood. Fire is primeval for us. We go way back with fire. Our ancestors were responsible for keeping the family warm and we still claim that responsibility. We also like building a fire in a fireplace, grilling on the patio, burning trash in a barrel. I live in the county and want to put a barrel in the back yard for burning boxes, odd size limbs, construction wood, etc. I ask my lovely wife Patty what size barrel I could have to burn in and she say they don’t make them that small! So I have to settle for burning steaks and hamburgers on the grill and using the chimenia. Chimenia, what a sissy name for a fireplace!

Patty and I were having dinner with some friends; Roger and Topsy. I asked Roger how his week had been. He said it had been good and that he had gone to their place in the mountains for a few days of chores. He said he likes to go up there every couple of months and look the place over good, make any needed repairs and gather up all the dropped branches or fallen trees and burn off the brush. My eyes lit up as he said this! A real honest to God fire… in the woods! He said right before he was ready to light the fire, it began to drizzle. Just enough rain to wet the ground but not enough to dampen the fire. Now I was really excited! Just imagine how much fun it would be to help Roger burn a large pile of limbs and brush. The crackle of the fire and smell of the smoke getting into your clothes and pores and nose. Can you smell it?
I told Roger I could see myself out their in the slight rain, smelling the smoke, hearing the crackle of the fire, feeling the warmth of it. What would make it perfect would be about two fingers of Tennessee sipping whiskey in a red plastic Dixie cup. That’s heaven on earth!

Water is the fourth element and the easiest to understand. We are carried in water and born in water! We need it to live and we need it often. We use it for everything. Most humans live near water. We live near the ocean, creeks, lakes, rivers or access to them. It is calming to hear the babble of a brook, lapping of the waves against a pier or crashing against the shore.

To be on the water is to feel small, to feel challenged. Water can also be tamed and redirected. I was challenged in my neighborhood with storm water issues which we eventually solved. It was a great challenge but we tamed the flooding and solved the problem!

If you combine these four elements together, you have sailing, camping, and a host of outdoor activities that allow us to leave the comfort of our own homes for the “wilds” of nature and the challenge of taming nature. Today’s lifestyle has conquered most of our pioneer ancestor’s struggles. We have technologies which make easy work of the hardest tasks they had to do. What is still a challenge is the four elements which men need to feel like men.

So that is a brief description of the four elements essential to man. Next time you see a man, perhaps your man, “messin” with earth, wind, fire or water; don’t give him a hard time about it. If someone asks why he is doing what he is doing, just tell them he is dealing with the essential elements which make him a man. Tell them, “It’s a guy thing.”

Oh, by the way, there is one other element essential to man but I will save it for another time. That element is “The Fifth Element”.