By tariqriaz
Article By Naima
We live in a time when the world is on fire. In Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo and other places. In words and in actions. On a small scale and a massive one. War wears many faces, and they are no longer only male. Women participate, command, order, destroy. Violence is not bound to gender, but still it is mainly men who are raised to carry it like a crown.
We often speak of a masculinity in crisis, as if it’s something new. But really, it’s the same old pattern playing out: strength equated with dominance, emotion with weakness, control with worth. In this story, both men and women lose, but perhaps men lose first, as they are raised into roles that leave no room for vulnerability, conscience, or care.
This is where the romance of violence finds fertile ground. It lives in the influencer’s cold creed of “never show weakness”, in films where the hero always fights his way out, in politics that rewards force over foresight. It lives also in our wars, where men are not only sent to kill, but also sent to die. Often in the name of honor, sometimes revenge, rarely humanity.
But there is another kind of strength. Not the one that crushes, but the one that carries. Not the one that conquers, but the one that cares. Moral strength. Emotional sustainability. Self-control without self-erasure.
And this isn’t only about men. In patriarchal systems, women too are shaped to become harder, colder, more cutthroat, to survive in games built by and for men. But when equality becomes a race to mimic destruction, we haven’t progressed, we’ve merely rebranded it.
We need a new ideal. One that values responsibility over power. One where courage means standing your ground when things get hard, not striking first. An ideal where sustainability applies not only to the environment, but to our relationships, our ethics, and our inner lives.
We need fathers who talk about their feelings with their sons. Teachers who recognize a boy’s silence as a cry for connection, not a sign of strength. Men in power who dare say “I don’t know” and still remain leaders. Women who don’t need to become ruthless to be taken seriously.
Because in the end, this isn’t about gender, it’s about what we choose to glorify. Do we want a society built on control and fear, or one where empathy and accountability are seen as civilization’s highest expressions?
As the world burns, we must ask ourselves: What are we teaching our children about strength? Who do we praise, follow, elect, call heroes?
The one who carries their doubt without hiding it. The one who chooses gentleness in a brutal world. That is where real strength lives. That is where a sustainable vision of humanity begins. Beyond destruction. Closer to what endures.
“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
In a world where violence and hardness are too often mistaken for strength, our fight must be guided by responsibility, empathy, and sustainability. Only by holding onto these values can we resist becoming the very monsters we seek to overcome, and build a future where true strength is measured not by destruction, but by the courage to protect and nurture.
