Notes Towards Manhood

notes towards manhood.

maximiliano battaglia

not today,

today I embrace myself.

I grew up to believe that being sensitive was equal to vulnerability and fragility, traits I was taught to understand as weaknesses. It became something that I needed to work on, that I needed to “rectify”. I wasn’t encouraged to nourish it, but rather suppress it, because sensitive people get taken advantage of, and the world is a battlefield.

Here’s the conundrum.

It takes strength to be vulnerable, to embrace sensitivity.

Isn’t that ironic?

Speaking of irony, here’s another.

Physical contact between me and my dad was, is and will always be a moment of uncomfortable tension. I have never known the limit.

Touching the skin of a person that eats, shits and sleeps under the same roof felt like a violation of privacy.

I guess a lingering stench in the toilet is less violent that a hug.