The Sins of Adolescence

WE HOLD A MEN’S CALL EVERY MONTH. SIGN UP FOR CALL-IN DETAILS

I’ve been working with Julian Mocine McQueen of the Million Person Project. He is helping me to find a way to tell my story of patriarchy, masculinity, harm caused, lessons learned and lifetime of atonement. The process has me reflecting on my adolescence. And on all the things I wish I knew then.

We don’t do enough to help boys become men. We don’t have initiation rituals. We allow this culture of patriarchy to shape our ideas of what it means to become a man. And the world is left with a bunch of children who are flooded with testosterone and have no idea what to do about it.

I am embarrassed by the ways I tried to embody manhood as I grew into my adolescence. And I know I’m not the only one. Some of us caused serious harm. Most of us did not. But that does not mean we were not hurtful.

We hurt the girls around us with our ignorance. We hurt other boys and folk along the gender spectrum. And we certainly hurt our own selves.

We don’t know what we are doing. And so we screw up. And people are hurt in the process.

How can we make things right?

What are the sins of your adolescence?
What do you wish you knew?
How can we support our boys?

I look forward to our call Monday, March 2 at 8:30PM.