Dear Samson…
I have watched for years as you have been faced with many attacks on your very self. I understand that these attacks on you have been happening since long before my time. I have seen you remain strong. I have seen you carry the weight of so much, from your own needs to the needs of those around you. I have seen your reward for standing so strong to be insulted, hated, and ignored in your needs. I want you to know that you are seen. You are appreciated. There are many of us ready to fight for you.
Why?
Because we need you. We love you.
I write to you to let you know that you are admired and appreciated. Please read these, my letters to you.
I see you.
Are you meant to
be wild?
What is your innate nature? Is it to explore? Is it to challenge the boundaries around you? Is it to nurture and protect? Is it to quietly listen and to be gentle? Is what is inside of you a desire you are pursuing or one you feel ashamed of? I tell you that nobody benefits when you stifle who you are to conform to what the world tells you to be. Like the wildlife around us, we are also instinctual animals. If your instinct tells you to do something or be something, do it. Be it. You will be your best and happiest self while you are acting in what is your true nature.
…and we need you. We need the man you were meant to be. We need you to be the man you are inside so that we can be the women we were meant to be. We want you at your best. We also want to see you happy.
Is it who you are to go to war? I don’t believe it is. I believe you have gone to fight because you have chosen to protect us and those around us. You stood up over the generations when asked to do so. Why? Because you are a man. You are strong, brave, and do what is right when called. We love you for it.
Do you feel ashamed when you are gentle? Are you ashamed to cry? I have watched my entire life as men, both young and old, have been ridiculed and criticized when they show their emotions. I have looked into the eyes of men and watched something break inside. I have seen their jaw tighten and walls come up. I have hurt for them each time that I have seen this. I am sorry that I did not say anything at the time. I guess I didn’t know how. I feel, though, that it is important for you to know now that it is okay. Generations of hardening men has led to you being less of who you are. It has led to you being separated from your true self and calling in life.
Do we thank you for your contributions? When you have put yourself into your work, whether the work is seen as great or small, do you feel appreciated? I have seen you, doing work nobody wants to do while people walk by, avoiding eye contact. I have seen emotional strain on your face and I have seen physical strain on your face. Did you know that you are noticed?
There have been many generations where women have tried to prove we can do so much without men. We have pushed you away. We have told you that you were insignificant. We have told you we didn’t need you.
…but we do.
We were wrong.
We owe you our sincerest apologies.
We owe you our
sincerest apologies
You are not alone.
You are not meant to carry life’s burdens alone. As we encourage you to be who you were meant to be, we will also be learning to be who we were meant to be, the women who will support you; the women who also need your support.
Something that is missing in our world is the balance of men and women. It is seen in the deterioration of the family. Men and women have been under fire for simply being the men and women they were created to be. In some cases, men feel unappreciated and they leave. In some instances men feel like they will never be able to rise up to the challenges of supporting a family. They either try to deal with their stress alone, they leave, or they mistreat their family. The cycle continues generation after generation.
If you feel it inside yourself, the need to be something other than what you feel pressured to be, other than what you feel you need to be in order to fit in, the I encourage you to join me on this journey. Embrace who you are. We need YOU, the real you.
I look at the problems that we face in our day, and I know that together we can make a difference, one problem at a time.
You are not alone.