Men with hollow chests!

Day in and day out, we get assaulted by the information being pushed to us. Whether it is to educate or divide, we absorb and, more often than not, only react to it. 

I don’t consider what I see as news and haven’t for a while. It is all set to divide and force us to choose someone to blame. We have allowed them to dictate whom to love, whom to care about, whom to serve, and whom to support.

Both sides of the coin are to be criticized, but one does more harm than the other consistently. 

Being a man, to me, meant that we protect, we serve, we help, and support our communities. We build safe spaces for others, especially the least of these. 

All I see are men with hollow chests filled with fear, seeking power and control for the sake of greed. Giving up on the whole just for a few more bucks. The utmost disrespect for life, for love, for a fellow human being is evident and on full display as we get deeper down the hole, allowing mad men to have more control than the sum of the people who put them there.

We have fallen so far down in the mire that when they speak, all I hear are lies as if they were breathing air. They lie so often and so much that the fish wonders if it is swimming in water. 

It is ok to be angry at how men treat women, children, and each other. Be mad at how they treat their spouses. Be mad at how we treat nature and others. I am burning up inside as I write this.

I was so angry and furious last night that I just cried. I checked on my sleeping kids and sat outside the bedroom and cried. I live for them, but I will die for them as well, and until such a time, I will do all that I possibly can to make this place better for them and their friends and their dreams.

I know many of us cannot stand to look at all the things out there, and that is ok but please do not bury your heads in the sand like the ostriches, or you will lose your heads. 

If you take anything out of this, please make sure to go out and build the community around you. Make sure you surround yourself with kind and loving beings. Support and care for each other as we work to make this place better for others. 

The little things matter most, and we need communities more than ever because these people want us to be divided at the core, and we need to fight against that. 

When it gets too much, take a break and go out and look at the trees, the breeze through the leaves, the noises in nature. Please don’t check out because once we do, we will certainly die. Understandably, it is meant to overwhelm us so we shut down.

We must remain vigilant and informed. We need to find a balance between anger, care, and reaction because we can’t carry all those things with us and within us.

So be aware of your surroundings, be aware of the world outside of your sphere of control. I certainly am!

In light of my past, I had to remind myself: 

Be aware, but do not carry it all!

I pray you are all safe out there,

Be kind always, no matter what!