Sunday 12 December 2010

Inspiring and Heart-Breaking...

This TED talking is something that absolutely everyone - mothers, fathers, grandparent, teachers and leaders - even outside of the extreme circumstances that Tony Porter experienced as a teenager, there is so much truth in the 'Man Box' idea.

When my mother died, my father worked incredibly hard to ensure that my two brothers and I could express our feelings openly and without judgement. ALl the while, trying to remain strong for us as he grieved. But we were children. When my father died a few years later we were teenagers, and my brothers both struggled with showing their emotions. My little brother, only 10 years old, was so embarrassed to have been seen crying by his friends that he initially refused to return to school.

It broke my heart. I never felt stifled in that way. And to be unable to grieve openly when something like that happens... Well, it would destroy the best of men.

The work that Tony Porter is doing is vital to us all. As he says, "My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman".

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