10th December 2022
The last day of the 16 Days of Activism falls on Human Rights Day. Handy really because Women’s Rights are Human Rights.
I want to issue that invitation to men again, to come alongside us and purposefully and intentionally work with us to end the epidemic of violence against women.
I’m not going to appeal to the fact that the 1 in 4 women who is abused or the 1 in 4 women who is raped or the woman who is killed every 11 minutes could be your daughter, your mother, your sister, your wife etc because it shouldn’t matter. Those 81,000 women killed worldwide in 2020 were humans, humans in their own right regardless of who their brother, father, husband or son was. They were human, they were created in the image of God, and their lives were violently and needlessly snuffed out. That should be enough. That should be enough to make your blood boil, to spur you into action to say “Enough! Not on my watch!”
We have been given a picture by God of how it is supposed to be, and it is beautiful, all of humanity, men and women, working together in perfect harmony for God’s glory. If it’s only men working to end male suicide and only women fighting violence against women then we’re not doing that are we? We’re not working together. The issues that plague men and the issues that plague women have the same root cause and we can work together to solve them all.
Come on men, get your White Ribbon. Become a First Man Standing. Be a DISRUPTOR! Book an Always Hopeful Seminar
Just DO something.
And while you’re at it. Remember that picture of equality in the Garden of Eden, we want you to share your power but we want you to share your burdens too. It may seem that it’s all about giving up, backing down, giving away power, but it’s not. As the great philosopher Spiderman said “with great power comes great responsibility” and by sharing that power you also share the responsibility, the stress, the workload. This life is tough, but none of us are in it alone, we’re not two separate species from Mars and Venus, we are one humanity, one reflection of God, and we’re stronger together.
Join the conversation on Facebook to share what you’re going to be doing, let’s give each other some encouragement.
#16days #16daysofactivism #orangetheworld