'Modern Man' or 'Leon Battista Alberti set me a challenge'

[Iain]

I've always admired the 'do-it-all', even the 'jack of all trades' despite the alleged absence of mastery. Bearing in mind my Renaissance men, and that Heinlein quote, I've decided to embark on a project to discover my 'Five Essential Skills for the Modern Man'.

Note that I said 'my five essential skills', for my five skills may vary wildly from your five skills. However, in order to begin this project I wish to discover your five essential skills.

Now before we begin I suppose I should outline the sort of skills I am looking for. I am looking for skills that you believe a modern man needs to function, indeed excel, in your modern world. From the outset though I would like to suggest that these be skills that a man would possess outside of his trade, especially if his trade is a highly skilled one. For instance, a heart surgeon cannot realistically expect all men of his acquaintance to be able to perform a triple heart bypass, he might however expect his friends to have a thorough and regularly updated knowledge of CPR.

On my aunt's farm it is generally considered a very useful skill to be able to artificially inseminate a cow, but my aunt may consider that every man should at least be able to tell a bull from a bullock from a cow, and have some vague knowledge of what a heifer is.

So far I've only got three (and at least one of them isn't serious):

1- Posess a useful knowledge of at least one language besides native language.
2- Have a hope of sustaining a life until medical help can be sought.
3- Be possessed of the smug (and possibly unsupportable) knowledge that you'd probably do much better on 'The Weakest Link' than their usual fodder.

A little anecdote if I may. I once sat in a kitchen with several international post-graduate students, at an internationally renowned university, and had to explain that the reason that dogs and cats don't produce offspring together is not merely through choice. Obviously they weren't science students, but there is still no excuse. And there is no excuse for my lack of another tongue, my ignorance of CPR and much more besides.

By the way, Leon Battista Alberti was an architect, an artist and more, who claimed to be able to jump over a man. I'm not sure I'd want to see a Dennis Rodman-designed building...

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

A good and worthwhile question.  I hope it gets some thought from many members.

I would add any of the following to your list of vital skills:
Serious fighting/combat/self-defense
Public speaking
Basic engine/machine repair and maintenance (change the oil, replace spark plugs, etc...)
Basic arithmatic (perfomred in your head, not on a calculator)
Cooking
Ballroom dancing
Hunting and/or gardening
Accounting



There's more to being a well-rounded man than simply possessing skills.  You should have a wide body of knowledge.  Humanity has learned an awful lot over the years, and you should grok most of it.  There's no excuse for not knowing what our semi-primative ancestors knew hundreds of years ago

Shakespeare, calculus, Mercantilism, Newtonian mechanics, Latin (or Greek), Battle of Watterloo, Beethoven's 9th, Marcus Aurelius, Rodin, participles, Jefferson vs Madison, and on and on and on...

All of these tyes of things should mean something to the educated man.  He need not be expert in all cases, but he should be able to hold up his half a convsesation about any of them.




If you wanna take it one tep further, you could even draw up a list of experiences a well-rounded mand should have.  A few valuable experiences that come to my mind:
Living in a foreign culture
Being well and truly poor
Working/volunteering in a hospital



I'll add more later after my brain has had a chaince to stew for a while.  Good question, though.  I like it.

[Morgan]

Every man should:

Be able to ride a motorcycle and/or a horse.
Be able to drive a stick shift.
Be an expert in some form of martial practice (pistol, rifle, hand to hand, etc.).
Be adequate in many forms of martial practice.
Know how to be a gentleman (in dress, action, speech, writing, toasting, etc.), and be one when necessary or desired.
Be an expert in some field - and be willing to share your knowledge modestly and honestly.
Know and understand history, civics, and literature (in the classical sense).
Be kind to women, children, animals, and elders.

I could go on...

Good post - you have me thinking and examining.

[Stickjockey]

Basic sewing skills. I don't mean you have to be ableto tailor your own suits, but basic seam repair or sewing on a button shouldn't be beyond the realm of anyone's ability.