Okay, first things first—I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, alright?
But there I was, somehow connected to a call between four brothers.
Not four random guys—four blood brothers.
You know the type: the kind of banter and energy that only siblings share.
And as for how I ended up there, muted like some secret agent?
Let’s just say it was the weirdest accidental drop-in I’ve ever experienced, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot of odd things in my time.
But for some reason, I stayed.
Maybe curiosity got the better of me, maybe something deeper—who knows? But here is my experience …
So, I’m sitting there, sipping my tea (because you can’t eavesdrop without tea), and the conversation takes a turn that I wasn’t prepared for.
What started as your typical brotherly chat turned into something darker—a lot of judgment, hate, and frankly, some real toxic stuff.
Now, my connection to this call?
One of the brothers. Someone I care about deeply, someone I thought would stand up when things got ugly. But he didn’t.
There I was, witnessing this bizarre spectacle of men talking amongst themselves, letting this stuff roll—no one stopping it, no one challenging it.
And the silence? The silence of the one I loved? It was like a punch in the gut.
I could feel his discomfort, like a shudder running through him, but still, nothing. No protection for the truth.
No standing up for women. Just a lot of words and no action.
And Then It Hit Me: Men Are Caught Too
The thing is, this moment was about more than just what was said or not said.
It hit me like a lightning bolt: these men were just as caught in the toxic web as women have been.
Patriarchy doesn’t just harm women; it molds men in ways that silence their true selves.
They’ve been conditioned to participate in the very thing that keeps them disconnected from empathy and their deeper emotions.
It was heartbreaking to hear these men, grown brothers, speak like that—and heartbreaking for different reasons.
Because deep down, I knew the brother I loved wasn’t really about that hate.
He didn’t believe in the venom he let pass through unchallenged.
But his silence was born from the same societal mold that’s conditioned so many men to stay silent, to not rock the boat, and to let harmful words just slide.
Gratitude and Heartache, Side by Side
So, yeah, the experience was bizarre.
It was painful and heart-opening all at once.
It showed me that we all—men and women—are molded by the societies we’re born into.
And just like a matriarchy would influence both sexes, a patriarchy does too.
But here’s where the light breaks through: when we finally achieve equity—true, freaking equality—humans will honor one another, without all this imbalance, without the silence in the face of injustice.
Until then, though, it’s moments like this one that keep me grateful for the clarity and understanding I’m gaining, even if it comes with a bit of heartache along the way.
Men are caught in this fallout too, and they’re hurting in ways they can’t even express sometimes.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when faced with the weight of societal norms, especially when those norms have shaped us for generations.
Whether it’s the silence of men caught in the trap of patriarchal expectations or the fierce empathy of women who have been taught to carry the emotional burden—these are the legacies we’ve inherited. But here’s the thing: legacies can be rewritten.
The conversation I overheard wasn’t just a painful reminder of how far we still have to go—it was a call to action. A call for all of us—men and women—to stand tall, even when Truth and Love threaten the training we’ve been given.
We’ve been molded to fit certain roles, to stay quiet when we should speak, or to bear the weight when we should share it.
But no more.
We have the power to break those molds.
This isn’t just about women standing up for themselves (though WE ARE).
It’s about men, too, finding their voices in the face of hate and judgment, learning to honor their own hearts as well as the women in their lives.
It’s about all of us standing, even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially when it’s uncomfortable.
Because when we stand—together—in Truth and in Love, we unravel the old patterns that no longer serve us.
We dismantle the toxic legacies that have kept us silent, separate, and afraid. And in their place, we build something new.
Something stronger.
Something that honors each and every one of us as we truly are: whole, connected, and worthy of love.
So yes, it might feel like the hardest thing in the world to speak up, to stand against the tide of what we’ve been taught.
But we have to do it.
For ourselves. For each other.
For the men who need to rediscover their humanity, and for the women who have been carrying the emotional load for too long.
Now, I pose this question to you, dear men: if you found out that your conversation with other men, your brothers, was being spied upon by a woman you love, would you do it differently?
Would you choose your words with care, knowing they matter?
Together, we will rewrite the story.
Together, we will All Stand.