I acknowledge First Nation Peoples and people of colour worldwide, and their pained wisdom, especially of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as they forcibly survive the trauma of dispossession, oppression, and stolen children across generations. I thank the LGBTIQ+ community for their affirmation of the richness of diversity and right to authenticity that their discrimination unnecessarily serves to remind all of us. I see the grief of women with careers unable to have children, and acknowledge that time does not heal all wounds or completely.
I see the pain of men victims/survivors of childhood abuse and intergenerational domestic violence, their socially suffocating silence, and suicide rates. I see men who desire family-friendly workplaces without penalty to career progression, income, and ‘manhood’. I support the journey of men seeking freedom from toxic masculinity, and appreciate non-defensive non-competing allyship from men.
Seth Shelley | Landon Wilcock | Justin Baldoni | Tony Porter | Fighting for paternity leave | Paternity leave in modern society
I view mental ill-being as a social justice issue; well-being grows with equity. It is time to water the flowers, not ask them to try harder to grow in dry soil.
“Trauma survivors crave honesty and authenticity. We’ve had to fight for our ability to think clearly and know who we are. It’s cost us greatly. We aren’t willing to engage with those who do not honour that.”
Nate Postlethwait