What it Means to be a Man IX: Acceptance

I didn’t grow up in the most accepting of places - Guernsey is about as white and cishet as it gets. When I was a kid, everyone looked the same, acted the same, and to some extent was the same, and so I never learned much about people who weren’t like that until I was older. It’s something I’m still nowhere near as good at as I would like to be, and something that I want to keep working on - and something I think a lot of men could stand to work on really. In order to bring about meaningful social change (something that seems more and more necessary by the day), everyone needs to be on the same page, and that means that everyone needs to have the necessary context and understanding for one another.

It’s hard to pick a man who does a good job on the whole with acceptance, some earlier mentions like DFW or Fat Mike have their moments but then fall short in others, maybe Jeff Rosenstock would be a better example of someone I look up to a lot. Barack Obama maybe? But then also it seems like he ordered drone strikes on civilians, which is hardly the most accepting act. Evidently, it’s a tough. one.

Either way, as painful as it is to confront, my journey towards accepting others has to start with accepting myself - wish me luck.