Spineless men

I have just read an article on the Internet about the difference between spineless men and just ‘nice guys’ and I totally agree with it.
I love a nice guy, I’m not usually one for ‘bad boys’. I want a guy that doesn’t throw punches over nothing, or yell about pointless things. I want a man who is a ‘nice guy’, not a rebel with twenty other girlfriends and a ‘que sera, sera’ attitude. Also, not a rigid and boring man, set in his ways, that is always sure about what is right and what is wrong in every case, and where every spot lies in the universe. I want open minded, I want easy-going. I want laughing at serious, scary, things. But there is one thing I do not want: I do not want spineless.

A nice guy and a spineless guy might appear the same in most situations. They’d rather let someone win than create an upset. They’d rather make a joke of something than a big deal. But as the article says, the nice guy steps up when necessary. In a crisis, the nice guy in the movies reveals a heart of steel. A core. The nice guy stands up by those he loves, by the things he cares about, by his values.
The spineless guy is one that as a teenager sees his friends torturing an animal, and says nothing. The nice guy would rather get into a fight than see a serious injustice. The spineless man would do anything not to get into a fight. The spineless guy lets injustice do what it will, will be witness to any atrocity and let it go. The nice guy knows what is important and what can be let go.
Suddenly I am reminded of the martial arts heroes in the movies: calm, gracious towards their enemies, practically ego-free. But not spineless. If push comes to shove, they reveal a bravery that might not have been apparent before. They had the strength, physically and emotionally. They just did not want to use it unwisely. The spineless guy just did not have the strength. Really, there was nothing to him.