Andrew Gray Podcast

GOOD MEN Are NOT The Problem!

Andrew Gray Season 13 Episode 2

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Can men truly be the root of society's challenges, or is there a deeper narrative that needs unraveling? We tackle this provocative question head-on, challenging the unfair stereotypes that often overshadow men's important contributions. In this episode, we create a sanctuary for open dialogue, offering a platform for men to voice their struggles, from mental health battles and family dynamics to financial stresses and health concerns. We're here to dismantle the narrative that unfairly labels men as adversarial by default, emphasizing that accountability knows no gender. Together, we celebrate the resilient spirit of men who are pillars of strength in their families, workplaces, and communities. 

Join us on a journey of empowerment, where recognizing one's worth is paramount. We delve into the importance of reaffirming men's roles in society, highlighting their unique and valued contributions. This episode is an invitation to our listeners to share their stories and struggles, fostering a community where men feel seen and appreciated. Engage with us, comment, and subscribe as we embark on a collective mission to build lives driven by purpose and strength. Stand with us in affirming that good men are not the problem but a crucial part of the solution.

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Speaker 1:

I really want people to understand the purpose and the reason for this channel. This is all about trying to help men. We know that in today's world, men are struggling. I am hearing conversations from men all the time about their mental health, their family life, their health and their finances, their loss of a sense of purpose. We want to help men to make it in life. If our men don't make it, the whole of the community is going to struggle, and so the channel really is about giving men a voice, helping them to find their voice, helping them to know that they're not alone, that there are other men out there who know what it's like to walk a mile in their shoes and, hopefully, to hear some inspiration, some thoughts that can help them on their own journey. You know, just in the last couple of days, talking to men who again have lost friends to suicide, in Australia, between six and eight men every day are killing themselves.

Speaker 1:

I know why this happens and at the same time, I don't. One of the reasons this is happening is because our men are running out of hope. When people get to the point where they feel hopeless, they conclude that there's no point going on, and the truth is, for a man, there should be lots of reasons why they want to go on. They want to go on for their family, they want to go on for their family, they want to go on for their legacy, they want to go on for their contribution to the world and the community that they live in. But our men are running out of hope. The pressure, the opposition, the things that are coming against them, the rhetoric and the narrative in society, even on TV, even in film, it's never ending, it's relentless, the pressures that are against our men, many of our men, who are the biggest contributors to society. They're working hard, they're starting businesses, they're trying to hold it down for their families, they're trying to be faithful to their wife, they're trying to be present, interested, devoted fathers, and they're trying with all their heart and soul to make these contributions. But every time they leave the front door of their house, opposition, pressure, blame. You're the reason it's not working, you're the reason. The patriarchy this, the patriarchy that. And there's only so much of this contradiction that our men can sustain, trying to contribute, trying to give, trying to be generous. And yet every time they turn around to society, on screens, on radios, in workplaces, in peer groups all over the place. Our men are being told that they are the reason we've got problems in the world. Well, here's the truth, everybody. There's only so much that you can beat a man down. Even a strong man has got his limits to how far he can be pushed into a corner.

Speaker 1:

I want to be one of those voices that sends the narrative the other way. We need to believe in the power of good men. We need to speak up for the possibility of strong men men in our world who I believe are the majority that want to be good family men. They want to keep their marriages. They want to be good dads. They want to be great at their job. This is the truth about the men that I speak to.

Speaker 1:

Very, very few men out there actually wake up in the morning with the intent to do harm. Very few men get out of bed each day with the thought how can I subtract from the community that I belong to? No, the truth is, most men and many of you who are watching this video right now whether you're in your 20s, as many of you are, whether you're middle aged or elderly, it doesn't matter. We're all facing the same challenges trying to do our best, trying to give our best and yet wondering how long do I have to put up with this societal message that's telling me I'm the scourge, I'm the problem, I'm the reason things are breaking in the world. Well, I'm in your corner, men. I'm not the only one, but I do want to be one of them that's in your corner to say that is false. Good men are not the problem, strong men are not the problem. Family men are not the problem, and you cannot cast a net over the whole of a demographic just because there's a few bad actors.

Speaker 1:

You might have even heard it said that every man has got this latent potential for toxicity on the inside. Let me help you understand something really important. The latent potential for damage and destruction sits in the heart of every person on the planet, whether they are male or female. This is not something that we can or should correlate just to men. Any person can go pear-shaped, regardless of their gender, and we've got to stop throwing this broad net over all men, saying that because a few men got it wrong, that every man, therefore, is bad and ready to do damage. In fact, quite the opposite is actually true. To let you know, I believe in men paying a price for their actions. When men get it wrong, there should be consequences, but the same is true for women. When women get it wrong, there should be consequences for their actions. This is the world we should live in, but the world that we are creating right now is the one that wants to blame the whole for the problems of the few.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm in your corner saying that I don't believe in that narrative. That's a falsehood, it's a mistruth. And if you're one of those men who is trying to be strong, trying to be a good family man, trying to be a faithful business owner employing people, I'm in your corner saying push back on that narrative, push back on that message. You are not the fault of all the problems in society. And I should say, while we're at it as well, this channel and the very large majority of men that I speak to are not against women.

Speaker 1:

One of the narratives that's floating around is that if you're a strong man, that means you're a masculine man, which means you must be toxic, which means you must be trying to bring down women's lives. This is far from the truth as well. Most of the men I speak to good men, strong men, family. Men want to do the right thing by women and girls, by protecting, providing and empowering which, by the way, is the original and should be the current definition of masculinity. What it means to be masculine is to be a protector and a provider and an empowerer of others. Well, we have let those who don't know what they're talking about hijack the definitions of language. I'm calling on all men of all ages, everywhere, to rescue that language back from those who've stolen it and should not be custodians of it, because they are making the situation worse. Men, we can rise up on the inside. We can stand for values. We can stand up for our families and for our communities and build a new generation of men who say no.

Speaker 1:

We refuse to accept the redefinition of our lives that some of you are trying to give us. We refuse to adopt the agenda that you're trying to superimpose on who we are. We are good men, we are strong men, we are family men, we are community men, and I want to be in your corner, I want to inspire you with the thought that what you've got we need. And if you're in a place, in a space in your life right now, where things are not good, where things are dark. Maybe you've gone through some really difficult things in your family. Maybe there's been breakdown and brokenness and now your back is up against the wall. I'm urging you, I'm encouraging you, I'm calling on you Don't give up. Stay in the fight, call on your mates and say I need you now. I need you to help me. I need you to support me because I've got to get through this trial. Our world needs you to make it.

Speaker 1:

We're all hearing way too many stories of men who are not making it because the pressure gets too much and something breaks on the inside. We need our men to make it through their battles and make it through their challenges. All the time I'm getting questions even from younger men who are desperately searching for a guiding voice in their life. They're asking about relationships, they're asking about purpose. They're asking about what does it mean to be a man in today's world, when all the messages they keep hearing is man, bad man, destruction?

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to talk to men of all ages, including these young men, some of them still in their late teens, and to inspire them and say listen, go deaf to those voices and those messages that are telling you that you are at the root of all of our problems. That's not true. That's a lie. Men are not at the corner root of all of our problems. That's not true. That's a lie. Men are not at the cornerstone of all of our problems in the world.

Speaker 1:

The truth of the matter is there are way more good men, way more strong men than the other kind, and we've got to speak well, especially to our young men. We need to inspire them, we need to give them a voice of hope. We need to give them reasons to believe that who they are and who they're becoming is wanted and needed in our world, because they are Our next generation of men, coming behind some who are at my age and stage. We need them strong, we need them resilient. We need sons who are raised in homes with a belief that their masculinity is a good thing in the world and that they can be defenders of what is good, defenders of the values that matter. They're the kind of young men we need to be raising, and this is what I'm hearing from young men all the time when it comes to our middle-aged men.

Speaker 1:

We've got to get busy restoring hope to the hearts of those men, so many of them that I talk to have lost connection with their dreams, they've lost their sense of risk and adventure and conquest and they're living life in a dark space mentally, a dark space emotionally, wondering if they're ever going to make it out. Well, if that's you, I'm talking to you, middle-aged man, saying don't give up, stay in the fight, because you can recover hope and rebuild your strength. Your destiny and your potential is not done yet. And, of course, to our men who are in their third. Third, so to speak, or the last quarter of the game, if you prefer that metaphor. We've got to send a message to these men we are not done with you, we are not discarding you.

Speaker 1:

Even though some societies might say that's the way to go, there's a new army of voices that are rising saying we refuse to do that. We need the collective wisdom, the learnings, the storytelling, the stories that are in some of these men who can help the rest of us to avoid the traps and the potholes and succeed on our journey. Here's the truth everyone, we need all men to be at their best young, middle-aged and old. We need them all to be strengthened. How does that happen? We speak well about them. We speak well to them, we give them hope, we aerate channels and messages like this one here that is trying to get a message across Men are not the cause of all the problems in the world. Far from it. Men are at the epicenter of so many of the good solutions that we're needing and we need to talk about it more.

Speaker 1:

We need to push back against the content narrative, the screen narrative, that keeps on trying to put our men down and rebrand them as the dumbest, the most useless, the biggest problem makers. We have to rebrand that message by kicking against it and saying that is not true. We need to speak well to our men, build them up, inspire them, because our world needs strong men more than ever. Let's talk about the future for a moment. Where is our world going if we end up with men who've tapped out because the world pressures them into a corner and says we're not grateful for your hard work, we don't care about your contribution, you're the reason why there's so many problems? If we keep doing that to our men, I promise you the future is a scarier place than the world we're living in right now. We are living in a moment in time, a window of opportunity to turn things around and speak to our current men for the sake of our tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

They have to believe that there are people out there, in every corner of society, who are encouraging them, building them up, speaking to them and giving them hope about their future, because their contribution matters, and that's why I'm here on the Andrew Gray podcast. That's the whole reason this channel exists is to be a voice and to give a voice to men who've had a gutful of being told that they are pointless and useless and in the way and the reason we've got problems. Man, that is not the truth. The truth is we need what you bring, we need who you are, and I want to play a small part in changing the narrative in society so that, when you leave your front door, you start to regain a sense. This world I live in is for me and they need me because those kinds of purpose driven men, they're the men we need, not men who are beat down and defeated by hateful people who want to just take, take, take from our contribution and then reject our place in society.

Speaker 1:

I hope you'll follow along the journey of this channel. I'd love it if you could leave a comment down below. Tell me the things that you're hearing. Tell me the things that you're struggling with. Tell me how, on this channel, we can actually serve what you're needing. What subjects are perplexing you? What conversations are you not getting the chance to have? Please get involved. Drop a comment down below, and if you haven't had the chance to do so yet, why don't you go ahead and subscribe? Join in this movement if you like. Join in on this journey of all of us doing what we can do to help our men recover hope, build strength and fulfil their purpose in this life.

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