Men of these days

There was a time in history when men were told you're weak if you cry, 

You're weak if you express your happiness and delight in art and nature,

You're weak if you are mentally "unwell"

You're weak if you refuse to fight in war and kill,

You're weak if you refuse to be aggressive in any way, shape or form. 

Today?

I see strength as being true to yourself and not backing down,

I see strength as goodness and standing up for yourself,

I see strength as being honest and genuine, and truthful and kind.

Shedding a tear is not weak!

Fore Alexander the Great himself back in the day wept as he had no more land to conquer! Can you imagine!

I weep when I feel joy in my heart.

When my daughter was born I wept.

When my brother came through near death to live his life I wept.

Knowing my mother is safe and healthy I weep.

You ask what does "man" mean?

Man means Andreas!

Look it up!

Man means courage!

Look it up!

So when you see me or any man, shoulders hunched, head bowed, don't judge, but ask yourself, what's in the heart of this man?

I've taken it off

A man is not a label, 

He is not defined by the drug he takes,

By the names he is called,

By the insults he receives,

By the reactions of others to him.

To be given the label of freak,

Because your father is a freak, 

Because your brother is a freak,

Because you cracked and became a freak yourself, 

To be given that label is no longer a burden, no longer a trap or a reason to point the finger and say this man is insane.

That label I was given from birth because of my father,

Because of my brother,

Because of me,

Was a driving force and will remain a driving force, 

and now from this day it has become a lit furnace, a furnace with undying flickering and piercing flames.

Yeah, I took the drug,

To calm my mind,

I was given no other option,

But now this fire burns on its own,

Without stimulant,

Without a chemical reaction,

But only with the determination a man has within his mind and within his very being, within the entirety of what he has. 

I came out from a dark place into a dark place all those years ago,

That was the seed,

Not money,

Not glory,

Not fame,

But to endeavour, to persevere, to understand.

Now my eyes see broad what that young fellow I was did back then,

Full of emotion he ignited an unrelenting flame that grew stronger day after day after day,

So that now I hold the brightest of lights in my grasp

And I've taken off that old label,

As when you are in the midst of any suffering you are not weak, that's a fallacy,

You feel exhausted, exasperated and devastated, but that, that is the crux of strength,

To not fold, but to get through and overcome,

So that you can replace that insane label with the label of strength.