The joyful Minnesota governor is a valuable spokesperson for Harris whose background and personality can help the Democratic ticket undermine Trump’s efforts to woo America’s men.
Tim Walz’s first official speech on the Democratic ticket displayed all the reasons that Kamala Harris has been lauded for picking the Minnesota governor as her running mate. Personally, I think one outshines all the rest.
Walz’s military background and his work as a high school teacher and football coach, along with his palpable joy and open expressions of compassion for people in need, offer America a vision of what manhood can look like — he’s a “joyful warrior” offering a vision in contrast with what’s being offered by Donald Trump’s bravado-driven campaign.
And he’s clearly willing to challenge Team Trump on that front. He displayed that even before he received the call to join Harris’ campaign, using public appearances to refer to Trump and his allies as “bullies” who are truly weak at heart and by mocking the GOP ticket for “running for He-Man Women Haters Club or something.”
One of the few things that I disagree with in your statement and, really, it’s down to semantics. The are more types of strength than physical strength. There’s strength of character, there’s emotional strength, and more. But, like physical strength, all of these can be “exercised”, for example contemplating ethical quandaries can strengthen one’s character and ethical self-identity.
While much more abstract, I do find “strength” in this usage part of my model of masculinity.
Now, about this:
I guarantee that to someone, you absolutely are. Remember that practically noone just “sees” another human being, they perceive them. Our visual perception is NOT raw data. It is filtered by the context, real or imagined, that we associate with the person that we’re looking at. It’s the combination of all this in a non-straightforward manner that will impact how physically attractive someone finds us.
You know what I was saying above? Yeah. This is exactly the kind of thing will influence how you are perceived, even visually.
I’m sorry that you’ve been feeling less courageous lately. The world can fuck us all up from time to time. If it gets too severe, I’d definitely recommend seeing a therapist, if you are comfortable and able to do so (and aren’t already).
A therapist, really? I mean anyone would benefit from a therapist at any time but the slightest downturn at any moment isn’t a sign of some severe problem that needs solving.
Suffering is completely normal and a true necessity if you are striving towards any sort of development of “self”.
Most of what’s commonly referred to as “western” society does not typically see things that way, though. That’s part of why I personally think normalizing therapy by suggesting it regularly to people, even ones who don’t currently have “serious” problems is so important.
Many of us did not get the “tools” necessary to deal with simple normal every day parts of life like suffering (in any degree) from either our parents, from people around us, or from society at large.
That also means stuff like
Might deter someone who could otherwise benefit.
You got it exactly. Normalizing taking mental health and self-care as important and necessary parts of life is necessary to undo damage done by toxic societal values and expected gender norms. If someone is just having a bad day, they’re going to know that they don’t need therapy. If, on the other hand, they have been internalizing a lot of dark feelings or have untreated disorders, someone suggesting it might be enough for them to say “hey, you know what, maybe I’ll give that a try”.
Why not? Noone should feel ashamed of needing a bit of help, if they need it. My mention of it was not a demeaning “go see a therapist, crazy” or anything toxic like that but a suggestion that it’s worth exploring if things are hard to handle.
That will depend on your philosophy and what you define “suffering” to be. Yes, we need challenges and the like in life to give us stimulation and impetus towards self-discovery. However, I would much rather noone have to experience the pain and trauma that I have experienced and try to do my best to support others towards that end. I don’t by into the idea of needing to experience a painful and challenging life to make something of oneself. There’s plenty of people who are successful without experiencing traumatic events. There’s also plenty who are left entirely broken due to their traumas.
- Alexis Carrel