"exertion. We live in an opulent blandness--overfed, overtended, overentertained, and overly preoccupied with ourselves. But men need aggressive physical lives. They need contest and conquest, strain and struggle. Otherwise, we lose ourselves to softness and effeminacy. It is not much of a surprise that a New Testament word that is translated effeminate from the original Greek actually means "soft through luxury." It is a warning."