Any man who grew up during my days was taught that long held unwritten rule that
MEN DON'T CRY!In fact, our fathers used to increase the intensity of the beatings when we cried or lacked bravado in the face of that thick bamboo stick being used to administer painful canes on our backsides for what they deemed a '
failure to measure up' on our end as their ‘
heir apparent’.
The slightest hint of discomfort or welled up tears in our eyes would be met by a harsh reprimand for us to ‘
man up’! This meant, you clench your teeth as tight as you can, apply some brain freeze maneuver to whatever pain inflicting situation you were in and feign amnesia like it is not happening, then soldier on like the man you are!
The same values are instilled on young men as they ‘
face-the-knife’ at circumcision. Later in life, when as full grown men they are overburdened by work{or lack of it} and home pressures in the face of adversities of a poorly performing economy, they have to hold their heads up like its -7 degrees when it’s infact sweltering hot under their armpits.
Oh..The pressure of being a man!
You see, in any African society and Kenya in particular, tradition forbids men from crying or speaking about any abuse administered to them,
especially by women.
