Manhood

By Jacob Mills

As real men,

We apologise and right our wrongs.

We say, ‘I’m sorry’, no ‘buts’.

We cry for joy, for sorrow, and publicly.

We say we’re not okay.

We say ‘I love you’ first, without expectation.

We be vulnerable.

We hold them close, and gently, when they say, ‘not tonight’.

We listen and try to understand before we speak.

We ask when we don’t know.

We ask, when we do know, if it’s okay to explain.

We are humble.

We change diapers and cook dinner.

We respect differences.

We stand up for what we believe.

We accept that others believe differently.

We teach girls to fix cars and learn from women.

We’re present with our children.

We talk about emotions at the pub.

We guide each other to the higher ground, because too often, we weren’t guided at all.

We let go of control and of ownership.

We do everything we expect of women.

We lift women up.

We are equal.

We strive to do all these things, despite how society raised us and the mistakes we’ve made.

Because real men are just good humans. Our gender is not our behaviour.