Man

By Agesandro Almondes (‘22)

Wash your sadness on Sunday and beat dry until not one tear may be found; wash your insecurities on Monday and put out them on edge of the porch; ignore them until you forget them; bury your anxieties and depression until they are 6 feet under because you are man; make a list of your regrets and burn them, make sure to leave no trace behind; walk with your head held high, after all it is a man’s world; try to be strong, bold and confident, push boundaries and not like the vulnerable weak boy your are so bent on becoming; don’t dance like nobody is watching; that is for when you are alone in your room with your bottles; this is how you cope with your stress and agony; at the end of a bottle; learn a skill; fix a sink, learn to build not break; learn to catch fish; be a provider for others not yourself; plant trees in places of holes; create a façade so bulletproof not even a shrink can see through it; present financial freedom despite having only a fistful of dollars; may that be with jewels and gold or fancy cars; exude confidence without fear of those finding the truth because they can’t; after all you are a man; you are the rock, the foundation of civilizations and leadership; love with fingers crossed, trusting nobody because only you can known your own fears; love with interest of pure pleasure and not attachment; think, believe that women are purely carnivores just wanting to devour you whole; “what if I love her and want to be with her forever and grow old?”; I will repeat myself until the message becomes ingrained into your brain so it becomes an instinct not to get attached; drench her with flowers however never with your fears; you will always be right because you are a man; your word overpowers all other of softer tongues; you hold power when they submit themselves to you; love women with tear gas in your breath, with words drenched in gasoline; ready to set them ablaze. This is what it means to be a man; to walk around like god; after all, God was a man.