To All The Men

"Be a man. Don't be a pussy. Grow a pair."

To all the men I'm surrounded with, I want you to know that I've seen your struggle. 

I've seen how you hesitate to answer when asked if you're okay. I've seen you not being okay but always saying that you are.

I've seen you unwillingly being dragged in fights, hide your scars and never saying that it hurts. I've seen you loving unconditionally and getting your heart broken.

I've seen you getting shamed for being too short or too tall, for being too lean or too bulky, for being too fair or too dark, for how much you earn, for what you do for a living and the kind of taste you have in music, for making videos?

I've seen how people look at you when you get your ears, or nose pierced.

How people care if you can't/don't grow a beard or if you grow your hair longer than you "conventionally" should have. I've seen you being asked to give up on your dreams if they don't sound "stable" enough, my heart aches because I've seen so, so many of you actually giving up on them.

I've seen you getting looks when you cook or serve food, when you sing or dance, how you struggle to show affection.

How you hold back tears. Being asked to "man up" everytime you start talking about your emotions. 

How your feelings are shrugged off and how you are always expected to fit into society's conventions, to be some sort of gentleman who cares about everyone else but himself.

Who is expected to "be a man" and hide his pain, to "suck it up" and bottle his emotions, till a day he just...till a day you just break, on the inside. 

Because you've never been allowed to break on the outside, you were never taught to. I want you to know that you are. 

Go ahead, write poems about that girl or guy you like.

You'll still be a man when you flaunt your earrings and wear that nose ring that's hiding away in your drawer. 

You'll still be a man with your long hair, or your short hair. When you're tall and when you're short. When you're skinny and when you're not.

You'll be you.

Here's for you to know that it's okay, for you to go out of the expectations you're burdened with, for yourself and for your dreams. You're still you.