Our Boys

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico 2010

Our angry, emotionally void boys, sigh - How did they get this way? Let’s peek in at the Johnson’s front yard on the corner of Main and Elmwood streets.  Seven-year-old Johnny falls out of a tree. His mom and dad run to his assistance.  Little Johnny is in pain and as a result he cries, because this is how humans are designed, right?  His mom tries to soothe him and comfort him. His dad tells mom to stop treating him like a baby and suggests that Johnny should “man-up”.

We’ve got to stop passing these so called manhood guidelines down from generation to generation. We’ve got to allow our boys to act natural - to remain creative, to remain intuitive, and to remain expressive.  We’ve got to stop labeling such behaviors as “gay” and anyway if your child IS gay, what’s the big deal? We’ve got to say no to society’s standards in order to protect our boys. This allows our boys to grow up to be their own individual version of a man.

Of course, personalities are more complex than this little blog can address, but I believe we must take a moment to recognize that sometimes our boys’ greatest challenge is overcoming adult’s fears. Our boys are growing up angry, emotionally unavailable, unable to empathize and unable to communicate their feelings. Take the pledge today to abandon those irrational and unhealthy rules on what constitutes a man. Let’s hear it for Our Boys!