I’ve been bothered for a long time about a lot of things going on in our country. There is so much to be concerned about. But much of it boils down to this:
White male privilege is a cancer that is difficult to cure. The first step is acknowledging that it exists; and I’ve no doubt benefitted from it. The insidious part is that it’s not recognizable to those of us who benefit when it happens. It fosters a corrosive ideology of mediocrity and entitlement. That realization alone makes me so angry. At myself. My community. America. Society. That privilege oozes into every crevice. And those that deny it’s existence perpetuate the disease, infecting our children with it’s toxic masculinity.
“Don’t cry. Don’t be emotional. You have feelings? Better lock them up tight inside. Don’t tell anyone. Put on your strong, stoic face. Be a man. You deserve the best.”
Decades of that ingrained in our heads until it becomes who we are. It erodes our humanity and chips away at our relationships. It festers until it becomes depression, anxiety, and worse. “What do you have to be depressed about?” Sometimes it’s too late before we realize what we’ve become. Sometimes it’s not. And asking for help, seeking treatment… “That’s a sign of weakness.” No. It’s not. It’s one of the strongest things we can do for ourselves and our families.
I’ll try my goddamn hardest to teach my boys. Learn from my mistakes and the mistakes of generations before.
We can be the firewall to stop this culture of white male dominance through mediocrity. We have to be. It’s not going to be easy. We’ll make mistakes. But we have to try. Persist until we change the paradigm of what a “real man” is. Because right now, we have it all wrong.