you’re not just fighting him. you’re fighting every man who told him how to be one.

We keep asking, "Why are men like this?" But the real question is, "Who taught them to be like this?"

But it didn't start with him. It started with his father, his uncle, his grandpa, his favorite rapper, his youth pastor who told him emotions were weakness and women were temptation. It started with men who never say "I love you," only "man up." With men who lead by silence, by shame, by power. Men who hurt others and call it tradition. Men who only got away with it because that's just how things were back then.

You're dating a man, but you're dealing with his lineage. And if he's never unpacked that, he's not loving you from the heart. He's loving you from his wounds. And eventually, you're going to bleed from it. These men ain't but the ones who raised them; they made the mold.