Manhood, Revising Webster

Its hard for me to wake up this morning not thinking about the intense conversations we had last night on the radio. I have to say that as much as it was emotionally heavy, meaning that some of the topics left us vulnerable. I felt inspired, I felt alive and that, that indescribable bonding that took place was priceless.

I knew that Dino had a lot to share, not only through his song introductions and his stories. He is of course a story teller at heart, but because you know by simply listening to him, he has ridden himself of a lot of layers over the years. The facade, the strong man that doesn't feel, the perfect human projection for the world to see, all of those lies, he's gotten rid off.

It's crazy to me that today such a thing is something I admire. I'm not questioning his sincerity, and I'm definitely not questioning the fact that I find that vulnerability to be powerful, as contradictory as it may sound. I just can remember a time where I would not have seen it this way. I can vividly remember worshiping strength. It did not matter if it was fake, emulated or anything of the sort. Strength was the only thing a man should adopt in his core.

This lie, this stupid idea that we can't, that we should not be vulnerable is expensive, extremely costly to us all. It is however something we have deemed as a social norm. Men are the protectors, men are the heavy lifters, men are the ones who take the bullet. I see it, I've lived it, I understand it and I can actually justify every single stoic expectation.

Are we right? I'm seriously asking. I'm intrigued as to how we ended up here in the first place. I can speculate, It's not that hard to imagine how we evolved to cast a protective shade for our nuclear family, even if the sun was burning our own skin.

All these things make sense to me, they really do. I just wonder if we are moving beyond a point where they are not that relevant anymore. I wonder if we are failing to adapt, if we are failing to see how these new dynamics don't mix well with stoic ideas of the past.