What is a man? Is he polished shoes?

Is he stoic silence? The pretense of invulnerability.

Is a man distant? Is he aloof?

Is a man sexual conquest? Is he intimacy?

Does a man walk with his shoulders back?

His head high?

His clothes tailored?

Are his eyes set upon a dream?

Does a man fight with purpose?

Is there a purpose in fighting?

Does a man have purpose?

Without a fight?

Does he lord his body over women?

Does he strap a pistol to his hip to protect himself or possess himself?

Without violence, is he a man?

Is a man a savior? Is he bold enough to be saved?

Can a man make room at the table? Or must he sit at its head?

Must a man rage? Must he occupy the world?

Does a man listen?

Does he hear?

Does a man close borders? Or make them porous?

Is a man vengeance? Is he the oppressor?

Can a man change what he was?

Will he still be a man?

What are a man’s rules?

Can he be any shade of skin?

Can he have his dignity back?

Or will we always hold his pigment in contempt?

Does a man forsake himself when he loses his place in the world?

Can he dig his hands into the earth and remember he is a man?

Can he find compassion?

Can he forsake wrath?

Can he return to his mother?

His father?

His lover?

And find his worth.

Relephant: 

What is an Awakening Man?

5 Things I’ve Learned About Conscious Manhood.

Author: Mathis Kennington

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: Betty Vance (via the author)