The Sensitive Man - We Are Surrounded by Cowardly Men

A Blog about Sensory Processing Sensitivity from the Worldview of a High Sensing Male
 
I’ve been writing about toxic masculinity lately, mainly because it has become more noticeable and visible in every aspect of our lives. I’ve also noticed that toxic masculinity is not just something that men perpetrate, but I have noticed some women are now espousing this philosophy. Toxic politics may be to blame with its scorched earth mentality towards the opposition.  Granted, the vast majority of women are not for this corrupted version of masculinity, but still, some seem to champion it amongst their men and even incorporate it in their outlook towards others. The Darwinian paradox at play, I suppose.

It seems to me that inherent to this phenomenon is inward cowardice, so-called manly men, trapping themselves in their toy soldier suits of armor, marching about menacingly, and calling themselves courageous. Yet they prey on the weak and vulnerable, like marauding herds of hyenas. Their “victories” are hollow and shameless, the triumph of shallow men. We are now surrounded by cowardly men – empowered by social media, spewing their culture of lies and distortions, deception, and malice. They become our paper leaders. As a society, we are better than this.

Where is the Honor?
Have we lost our will to show honor? Do real men need to breach the etiquette of decency, to deviate from the precepts of equality, genuine liberty, and full brotherhood and sisterhood to all men and women? What depravity has led us to this place we now find ourselves? Honor beseeches us to consider the virtue of the greater good. The suppression of others has no place in an advanced society.

 Has our technology surpassed our ability to act as thoughtful, rational, and compassionate humans? There is no honor in toxic masculinity, only raw one-celled emotion, a selfish desire to consume at all costs for ones on pleasure. We see the cost every day, in our environment, our culture, our obsession with money over life, and the self-aggrandizement of selfish desire. We have hit that peak moment in our politics. We are empowering cowardly men to decide the fate of all of us. I see no honor there.

Where is the Obligation?
Our leaders have failed us. They have been elected to protect and to serve us, yet they serve some other master. Where is their obligation to be virtuous leaders? We live in a culture where a few have everything serviced by cowardly men who step and fetch to their master’s whims. Look around; you see the greatest in need are the least served. We are surrounded by reptilian selfishness. A few oblige themselves to hoard in epic proportions, leaving none for the rest of us. Where is the mammalian service, the tending to the herd? This few have spewed lies about striving for the common good, calling it radical socialism and authoritarian communism and other pejoratives that discourage honest discourse on the obligation we have to each other.

Where is the Moral Integrity?
What happened to our foundations of moral integrity? Those universal truths that are supposed to be self-evident.  Have we lost our moral compass? We live our lives if codes of ethics no longer matter. When lies masquerade as truths when there are no consequences for breaking societal boundaries, the floor comes out from within us, and we sink deeper into moral depravity. Where is the courage in that? We are suffering from an empathy deficiency. When selfish interests replace empathy, then morality takes wing, order becomes chaos, and the cowardly grifters sit like noisy vultures at the commons table.  Without empathy, there is no morality.

Where is Courage?
Do we even know what courage is anymore? I mean real courage, not the false bravado kind you see with the legions of toy soldiers with their camo gear and military-grade guns. This week we lost a true warrior, a man of courage, and an HSP male, Congressman John Lewis. He was a peaceful warrior who wielded the weapons of persistence, kindness, and the fiery sword of truth. He took his beatings, but he never yielded. That, children, is bravery. This is courage.
Cowards hide behind their external shields, while brave men, like John Lewis, stand out in the light of day. Real courage comes from within – it is gender-neutral and age-neutral. Courage means to plant feet firmly in-ground and stand up for something greater than yourself, yes, even in the face of sinister opposition. Courage does not hide or blame, and you don’t need to swagger as a manly man to be brave. Inner strength arises when enough is enough.

HSP men should rise now. History is calling us to rise now. We can and are required to model the changes needed – the changes in men’s voices. We can be that change. We can show that courage is lacking in the toxic masculines we see all around us; they are the corruption of manhood. They are the distortion of masculinity. They are cowardly men.  They are not the good men that will lead us into the better world we need. We must be that change.  All good men must rise and take back our world.
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“Be the change we wish to see(k),” Mahatma Gandhi