The Measure of a Man

There was a song playing on a random playlist that I do not think I have ever heard before called “The Measure of a Man.”  It was then I had a thought.  I have learned that when I have a thought, I need to go with it, as me and having a thought, while not being mutually exclusive, are rare enough to be stand out moments.
I know the song was saying something about it not being in how tall he stands but I do not know what else was said as I had stopped listening.  I thought “the measure of a man is not in how tall he stands but in how readily he bows.”
Ok it was not something I am likely to (though I never say never) put up on my wall.  I did that with another thought that came out of the blue.  “I’m not what I was, but I have never been what I am going to be.”  I found a picture on the net and put that in front of it.  This morning’s light bulb moment is not likely to make it to the wall but for me it is right up there.
There are heaps of things I do not reckon I should bow to.  Doing so would render me ineffective.  I would be neutralized.  I would be part of the pavement and walked on.  There is stuff I need to stand for.
I stand for my family and my possessions.  Judging by trips to the doctor I stand for my health.  There may come a time I may know I am fighting a losing battle, but I keep fighting.   I stand for my friends.  Mess with them and you mess with me.  I stand for the way of life I enjoy.  I am not ready to roll over and play dead to an authoritarian regime that will take away freedom I enjoy.
While there is heaps I will stand for, it seems to me the measure of a man is recognizing what is to be bowed to.  It seems pretty silly to me to fight the one who put me together.  Talk about a losing battle.  I actually want to be on their side. 
I will never forget in the last book in the Narnia series.  That was a series by C.S. Lewis I read in a hurry.  From the first book I could not put it down.  There was a leader of troops in that who fought for Tash (the enemy) but the minute he realized the rightness of the opposition and the wrongness of what he was fighting for, he switched allegiances.
There are things worth standing for no matter where my allegiances are.  But to me the measure of a man is recognizing and bowing to the leader of an allegiance I was made to serve.