Men's Corner
- Apr 16, 2020
- 3 min read

Tough Times: Men, Anger, and the Lockdown.

Updated: Nov 9, 2021

''And so a man’s heart, driven into the darker regions of the soul, denied the very things he most deeply desires, comes out in darker places.''

― John Eldredge, ''Wild at Heart''

Dear Friends,

We live in unprecedented times, tough times.

This current hardship, although very different from the hardships our grandfathers had to face, seems more than able to bring the worst out of us all — out of humanity in general and men in particular...

Fear and panic sweep the Earth, but we must remember that always in times of crisis, it is the men who are called upon to stay calm and show courage...

Today, it is the men who are being called upon to fight for the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of those entrusted to them; we are those who should be sources of peace and protection from the storms that are raging all around us...

But this would be indeed impossible, if the storms within us are not calmed first. Good work must take place in us, good must be done in us and for us, before good can truly be done by us and through us. Before we can shine as the husbands, fathers, brothers, friends and leaders that we can be, we must allow for the best to be brought out in us, and offered up in a service of good...

But that will not happen, if the worst is not faced first. That would not happen if we don't allow the darkness to be drawn out of us, like poison is drawn from a wound, so that we can heal...so that we can be whole again.

So that we can be strong again.

As in the ancient stories, the gold that we are after here — the good, meaningful lives we long to live, the freedom of our hearts as men — is being guarded by dragons, and we must face them first...

As in the old Biblical story about death and resurrection, we too must be willing to 'die' and sink into the deepest darkness of our souls, so that we can be lifted out of it and redeemed.

Freedom does not come without sacrifice; it never has. And so, men from all ages, from all over the world, have always been called to sacrifice — yes, to be willing to lay down their very lives...

But this would also mean that, today, we must be willing to sacrifice our peaceful, quiet and comfortable existence — willing to give up the small worlds we have created for ourselves, our little pain-free zones, our fortified castles, stocked with comforts and filled with pleasures...

We must be willing to throw off the heavy sedation of our comfort, and rise up again, as the men of old, and fight our battles.

This time, however, our main enemies are within us...

Nothing can expose hidden and repressed emotions the way close proximity to another human being can; and if that human being is one that knows us intimately and is well-familiar with our strengths and weaknesses, this truly is a recipe for disaster...

Or the perfect formula for success.

Men, for some of us, it would be only a matter of days before the angry outbursts become more and more frequent; for others, depression might increase and addictions tighten their deadly grip...

But there is a better way.

We can be free. We can be liberated. We can feel again.

But we must be willing to sacrifice our superficially-maintained peace first; we must be willing to choose expression over suppression and freedom over depression.

This time of forced inactivity and the 'COVID19' lockdown, instead of a problem, can be seen as a great opportunity...

These are the times when men are trained. These are the times when men are forged into the people who would be needed by the world when all this is over.

The world needs you more than you can imagine, but the world needs the real you, the truest you that you can ever be...

And that does not come without training...

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