During my childhood,
I met men—
many of them—
who treated me no good.
They made me hate men in general,
men living all around the world.
I cursed men’s existence because of them.
I thought of men as animals
who lived in their dens.
But when I reached the age
of my adolescence in teenage,
I met a boy who treated me well.
I became suspicious in the beginning
that he would too, eventually,
turn out to be one of the bullies.
But he treated me good always,
even when we weren’t friends.
I learnt what kind of behavior
should I expect from boys.
He prevented the men
who talked garbage
from talking to me in the way
because that was plainly unacceptable.
I met many kinds of men
even after this incident
but now, I recognised my worth and strength.
I practiced being independent,
which I always did except in this case,
and didn’t let any man
bully me anymore.
I met bad men
till the age of 18.
I started meeting
good men in my journey
when I turned 19.
All who weren’t good to me
left my life during the journey.
I am 20.
I have met another good man
who is helping me in knowing myself
and aiding me in my healing.
Now, I can say
that all men are not bad.
I can understand many aspects
of the situations
they have to deal with in the present day.
I understand the significance
of International Men’s Day.
I understand that men
are not all the same.
They are just as human
as the rest of us in the society.
So, we shouldn’t burden them with any duty
or obligation to adhere to
just because they are males.
We should break the brackets
that we expect men to fit in to
and judge them only on their
human or inhuman actions and behavior.