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.