“This younger generation is seeking ways to connect more meaningfully with each other and the girls/women in their lives.”

This is a comment by Carla Smith on the post “Male Yearning“.

“I, too, read GMP on a regular basis so that I can peer into the hearts and minds of men. I am grateful for the essays that illuminate the misunderstandings between genders, for the hilarity and general wit, for the latitude in personalities that write in as authors or commentators and most of all, for all the times GMP makes me remember that while we are fascinatingly different as men and women, we are also very much the same.

“Tom says: ‘Let’s start acknowledging that in 2012 men are suffering in all kinds of ways that include the very definition of what it means to be man in a world with quickly shifting sands economically and socially. And at its core that suffering is about a yearning that can only be filled by deeper connect with each other and with the women in our lives.’

“It is easy to ‘sell’ the disconnect, the differences. Conflict and drama sell. Every good storyteller, magazine editor and filmmaker know that. It’s time for the courage to call out those inflammatory differences and speak instead, the yearning which lies deeper – in both males and females, by the way. I sense that most women I know would cherish those conversations. They just need help with the words.

“I share all the GMP articles I read with my women friends and my daughters. A few days ago I read a piece by Ken Goldstein who asked his father on his 75th birthday what he believes to be the greatest one piece of change in his lifetime. His answer: tolerance. Tolerance for gender differences, ethnic and financial status differences.

“The internet as a tool in the hands of this younger generation has the potential to do both evil and good but I sense, from the young people I know and how they use social media, that they have a greater awareness and appreciation of each other, of humanity on a global scale than my generation ever did. We are all products of our parents histories, as are they. This generation, however, has in its hands a powerful tool of change and from what I can see, they are, on the whole, seeking ways to connect in a more meaningful way both with each other and with the girls/women in their lives.

“Thanks Tom, for keeping the door open to these conversations. I listen with greater width to the men in my life and led to greater understanding and appreciation of the complexities of being a man today.”