Author Carlos Andrés Gómez has created an awesome, diverse, and inspiring collection of videos of men sharing their Man Up moments.
The Man Up Moment website explains the project:
In July of 2012, writer and activist Carlos Andrés Gómez (author of “Man Up”) created a YouTube video to share his own Man Up Moment. Inspired by the explorations in his memoir “Man Up,” Carlos decided to upload a video to try to start a conversation and offer hope to males who he felt had reached a crisis point in our society – high rates of suicide among young men, massive unemployment, large-scale incarceration, extended deployments abroad, escalating youth and gang violence, and what many had called, a “lost generation of men.” Within hours of his post, scores of men shared Carlos’ video, many of whom later went on to share similar stories of their own. There was clearly an urgent need for this platform, where boys and men could share their stories and inspire others to do the same.
The ultimate hope of Man Up Moment is for young men to no longer feel constrained by the limiting boundaries of who they are expected to be – maybe violent, emotionally illiterate, homophobic, negative towards women, irresponsible – and give themselves permission to embrace the full spectrum of who they are. Man Up Moment believes that men have the right to feel, think, and exist in a way that profoundly transcends the clichéd, one-dimensional script so many have been handed.
Head over to the Man Up Moment website to see many more vids, and even contribute your own.
Honoured to be included and I hope others submit their Man Up Moment videos and share stories with others as well!!