By Hrishika Muthukrishnan

The beauty of a human being
In comparison to any other species 
Is our heightened ability to feel 
And to process the world around us

Tell me then 
Why is it a bane
For half of our species
To reveal and bare emotion?

Why are our males taught to not do
What a human being is meant to do:
To feel
To express
To expose

When will we allow males to embrace the gift
Of being human?

Men were taught that to show emotion
Is weakness
But what if we changed the narrative?

That showing emotion 
Is one of the greatest feats of strength
To be openly vulnerable
To allow yourself to be the way a human
Is supposed to be

Hrishika Muthukrishnan grew up in Cary, North Carolina, where she spent eighteen years thinking there wasn’t much to the suburbs before she discovered how much her hometown had to offer her. She is currently a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has been previously published in Carolina Muse and The Indian Standard. During her summers, she works as a creative writing camp counselor where she and her campers frequently invest in quirky inside jokes. When she’s not writing at sporadic moments of the day, she spends her time painting and immersing herself in the field of fashion photography.

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