Happy Men's day !

Here is to all the men I have known who have enriched my life, thoughts, perspectives and through their kindness and compassion, encouragement and respect, ensured that I keep the spirit of what drives me within, alive. I cannot be who I am without all the men i have known, been influenced by, supported by or taught me the world.

Love you all with your quirks, confusions, vulnerability, genuine intentions, awkward attempts, immense courage, crazy persistence, insane energy, sense of humour, grace, decency and openness.

Have a lovely day! You give a lot of yourselves to the world, your partners, women, children, siblings, families, workplaces and the community and most often not given your due.

Wishing you a day where you enjoy your identity and pamper yourself in whatever form that gives you deep nurturing joy, forgetting all the various responsibilities you carry.

When I first wished folks on International Men's day nearly fourteen years ago, most people found it funny. Even the men. They took it as one among my many quirky and weird posts.

People commented that it was the same day as world toilet day. The men found it funny. To have a day that was also world toilet day.

I have been posting Men's day wishes every year since then.

Slowly, times have changed. Today I see many posts on International Men's day. Wishing. Congratulating. Acknowledging. Men writing about themselves boldly.

This is a wonderful shift. The more self-aware the men are, the more beautiful and hopeful the world can become.

Men need to celebrate themselves. Understand what aspects of themselves they would like to celebrate. Honour and enjoy being many shades of men without feeling sissy. Enjoy action without violence. Explore being men who have adapted to the world as it changes. Understand what it is to walk beside a woman, enjoy her power or be gentle. To hold a child, to raise a dog, or run a home or laugh and say sorry. To not become a victim of jaded, dead definitions of what it takes to be a man.

Ten years from now, International Men's day should be a wonderful celebration. Metoo and other such movements should be history.

This is a new world we are all entering, many gracefully. Some by force. Just as every woman finds her voice, let every man comprehend his emotion and ability to feel. The courage to just be. Whatever the best version of himself he chooses to be.

Let every man come out of the toxic hell created by society and old culture, forcing him to act and respond in set ways. Let every man find his beautiful, authentic self, embrace being human, explore his strengths, and be comfortable to fail and arise, succeed and celebrate.

As old definitions of what it is to be a male die, and new identities are born, I wish every man I know, the grace, the courage and the joy to own upto your identity. Embrace it. Celebrate it. Come home to yourself, walk ahead for the generations to follow your trail.Glad to know so many of you who are leading the way! 

Happy Men's day!

2023

#InternationalMensday

- Srividya Srinivasan

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