Emotionality

So much of culture and its media have painted masculinity... as rigid and cold. Hard lines, grit teeth, bravery and willpower unleashed.

This epitomized archetype amounted to men who demolished their capacity for communication and eviscerated the potential for emphatic vulnerability.

"Big boys don't cry."

A novella is up to the task of addressing tears alone, but this will have to suffice for now~

Emotion is the 'color' in our lives. We can methodically, intellectually, carefully grow a garden - but it will be the emotions of satisfaction, of serenity, of accomplishment, of encouragement, of patience, and all else... that bring the 'color' to every memory we craft in the fostering of that garden.

To deny and stopper up feeling, to repress and push it down between the cracks of your foundation, to rage and wither in the basements of your self - is to seal away such color.

Feelings can be wildly intense and difficult. Anguish can shatter lives in multiplicity when it reigns, unchecked, unhealed. Yet this is part of 'color', too; the full range of the painter requires a full palette of paint.

Imagine a man taking his newborn child into his arms. His face is hard, his emotions locked away. He is proud.

But is there anything else?

Imagine the same man, but his face is soft; his cheeks are wet; his eyes reflect the awe of this creation, this union of body and soul.

Which is making a memory worthy of all the beauty life has to offer?

We don't have to be tortured artistic souls to *relish* the emotionality built into this life. Sensitivity to it, to the richness of people and nature, to connection and attentiveness - this isn't feminine, this isn't weak, this isn't foolish.

This is human, at its brightest.

There is place for hauling an injured stranger to safety, for steeling hands and eyes against assault and danger, for navigating the many, many struggles between life and death.

But strength does not exist in opposition to emotionality; the power in gentle hands cupping cheeks will never be replaced by the tense force in a fist.

Indeed, the most delicious slap can be one delivered with love, just as the most powerful strike can be one delivered in rage.

Emotionality is not the key, finale, or essence of happiness, but it is an incredible gift woven into life.

Why squander such opportunity?