Meet David. David was the alpha of our group. Good looking, 6' 1" with a chiseled jaw and a body worthy among the gods. David was the anti-thesis of me. Now don't get me wrong. I wasn't bad looking. Was studying engineering and a really likeable guy. Except one thing;

I was a beta bitch.

I was the one the whole group picked on. I was the one everyone used as their chauffeur. I was the one who wasn't told about the groups next place of outing. I was living in a miserable state of existence. I knew it and they, especially knew it.

Then one day I had enough. I was awake in my bed at 4 in the morning mulling over the fact that these people were not my real friends, these people used me, disrespected me and put me down. I realised that even if it meant being alone, to not accept those types of people because they weren't worth the effort and it caused too much stress and anxiety in dealing with them.

Fuck them. I'd go out on my terms. One night I invited David out with the plan of going out to eat then doing my thing. David was used to this because my beta self used to hope that by buying things for him like smokes, food, petrol etc he'd value me more. Yeah, it was that bad. While we were eating, David could sense something was off. I guess it was my bad vibes. He would ask me throughout the night if I was good. I'd just smile in return and reply "all good".

On the way to drop him off at his place, I diverged from the road and detoured towards a park. He asked me "what the fuck do you think you're doing?" I ignored him and remained silent.

When we finally got to the park, I stopped the car, got the key out the ignition and told him to get the fuck out. I'm not gonna lie, my heart was beating hard. The blue pill faggot inside me was telling me - no - SCREAMING at me to apologise, supplicate to him and defuse the situation. I thought he was going to pop me in the mouth right there from the passenger seat. He didn't stir at once. He said quietly,

"You really think it's necessary?" "Absolutely." "You sure about this?" "Let's go." "Okay. Let's take care of it.”

Well, I wish I could tell you some rocky balboa shit happened. Truth is, I woke up to him staring down at me asking me if I was okay. I also noted (with pride) that I had broken his nose. Thankfully, I didn't get any serious injuries besides minor facial bruising. I couldn't even answer him as I was so dazed, so I just laid there thinking what a horrible idea it was to call him out. But to my upmost surprise, after going to the hospital and checking out, we later went out for beer and I'm not kidding when I say this but I had the best time ever. He profusely apologised to me. He said he wasn't surprised I flipped out on him. We also laughed hard at the fight we had and the events leading up to it. The sweet cherry on the cake was him telling me how scared shitless he was of me when I called him out.

"Wait? He was scared of me?" I thought. Then right then and there, at that moment, I had an epiphany.

The thing is, while anyone could admit that these guys trying to shit test me were lowering my status in the eyes of others, It was my responsibility to recognise and thwart their efforts in trying to undermine me.

I realised how pathetic I was for always trying to placate the situation, always changing the topic, always trying to appease them. At that moment I fully took responsibility for the way I acted. I looked at things from a whole new different perspective, at the end of the day, these were my bros, men have been doing this since time memorial. This is a time tested ritual of masculinity, a passage among men. These shit tests were there to test me, to determine whether I was a man and had their backs or not. If a situation were to arise, would I have their backs? If push comes to shove could they rely on me?

That night I went home and laid awake in my bed with my face aching. I truly felt great, almost a euphoric sense of happiness and pride. But want to know the best part? Ever since that night, I got my respect. David and the others would ask me where we'd hang out. If I said x, we'd go x. If I said I wanted to eat at y place, we'd go eat at y place. David would actually LISTEN to me instead of others, and this made the others realise that the group dynamics had changed after that incident. We got so close (much to the chagrin of the few brown nosers of David in the group) we'd take road trips to all the major Australian cities, talk philosophy at parks half past three in the morning, wing each other at clubs and social events, beat each other's PR's at the gym etc

He became my best mate.

And three years later, I was his best man at his wedding.

Fellas, It doesn't even matter if you actually know how to throw down, I can't tell how many men I've encounter who didn't let shit fly, but were really weak and not very proficient at fighting. If you let other men disrespect you, quite frankly, you'll come across as a bitch. Now every dude will feel like he can mess with you and you'll be relegated to the groups punching bag status. Never be the guy in the group known for being conflict averse. Nip that shit in the bud.

B-b-but majestic I'm short

Lift faggot. I've seen fights between men with a notable difference of height ending up in the shorter one knocking out mini hulks with a good hook shot. Case in point? Jack Dempsey.

B-but I'm skinny

Lift faggot

Why not just ditch these dudes instead of fighting like a bunch of uncivilised buffoons?

True. But it's on you to make sure it never reaches that level of disrespect. Sure, I could've just left, but I could've missed out on the greatest friendship. I can't lie myself, I've also given shit to men who don't respect themselves.

In addition, no matter how many times you leave a group, at the end of the day you're going to have to learn to set and enforce boundaries. Running away won't. Would you respect a meek overweight loser smelling of Doritos and shit?

Violence is never an option.

No. Violence is a staple part of being a man. You can easily be backed into a corner. Maybe a thief has broken into your house endangering your family, maybe you're being trailed by a group of delinquents looking for trouble. As a man, you have to be ready to confront situations like this. Besides, if you call out dudes 1 on 1, 9 out of 10 times they'll just back down.

The Redpill preaches that women shit test men to gauge his frame and to determine if he is alpha fucks or beta bucks. Who says men don't have an inbuilt mechanism to assess other men in the qualities essential to being a man?