A nice person in a cruel world

Oh, they were too nice, is a sentence uttered by some to explain why a person was picked on, bullied, taken advantage of. 

But to my mind, this is a skewed perspective.

One isn't too nice, the aggressor is an asshole.

You are never responsible for another person's abuse. Mean behavior is the problem of the person meting it out, never the victim. 

However, developing confidence in who you are is a huge deterrent to these types of people. They will cower in your positive self-image and mental health. 

One can be a lovely, caring, thoughtful, in short, a NICE PERSON, without being a target, without being naïve. 

Niceness is not a weakness.

And a man who develops gentleness is very powerful. 

It it easy to give into anger and aggression, but it takes work, self-control and honesty to be decent. Never suppress your anger, step back and interrogate it, get help if you can. Being vulnerable is scary, especially for men. 

From day one, it seems, males are steadily conditioned to hide their feelings. An insidious societal message propagated despite its negative effects. A belief so entrenched that men suffering from its effects nevertheless reinforce its hold. 

Yet culture isn't static. It strains and shifts and evolves. And with its righteous outrage it jumps forward only to clash with opposition to change. Opposition made more effective through the internet: social media, influencers. And this is, sadly, the case with messaging concerning males. 

The more we move forward, the more it is opposed and the more we power on. Culture does change!

Life is change! Never give up!

One of my favorite kid's books is "The Story of Ferdinand".

A beautiful message of the power in gentleness and how manliness has many expressions and forms.

An Ox/Bull is an excellent symbol of the gentle being, a gentle man. While they can certainly kick some ass if needed (needed being the operative word, and is a trait human men should aspire to. i.e., if one is being attacked and/or needs to protect someone), as well as have incredible strength (strong as an ox), they are herbivores. They don't kill for power.

Which leads nicely into VEGANISM. And vegan men.

Vegan males endure lame insults to their manhood: soy boy, weakling, feminine, yet, they carry on confident that they are on the right path speaking up for the voiceless. The abused. 

And so, we come full circle back to the abused. 

Animals are not responsible for the abuse they receive from us. They are not second rate earth dwellers here for our use. They should be protected and respected as equal beings on this planet.

Listed below are some powerful, male vegan activists (all found on YouTube, and there are many more, along with amazing and powerful female ones and couples).

Earthling Ed

Joey Carbstrong

David Ramms

Lifting Vegan Logic

Happy, Healthy Vegan

Plant Based News

Animal Rising

Cliff Grant

Plant Chompers

Debug your Brain

Some boos to check out (also found on audio).

Ed Winters, "This is Vegan propaganda".

Alex Lockwood, "The Pig in Thin Air".