Prompt of The Week: Write about a cause close to your heart and why it is so important to you.

@Clarisse29

They say it takes a village to raise a child,

Coming from someone who really had a village as a child,

I mostly raised myself.

I purposely started this with a "saying",

All the adults around me had different "sayings",

Each catered to their own inability,

To be listening.

And what's all this I hear?

Yeah, I've got the dirt on a lot of people,

But dirt's not soil you can grow something in,

Understanding requires real groundwork.

What I don't understand are all the networks,

Parroting the same cycles that people demand,

Where hate becomes entertainment,

But that brings me to my cause.

There's no need for all the gossip buzzing around our heads,

There's no good that comes from overusing the same statements we want to hear on everyone else.

So stop the judging,

Stop the toxicity,

My cause is my example,

Listening, getting to know others, examining their statements, and examining myself,

Evolving myself.

Evolve with me if you want to stop going in circles,

Let's be on the right side of history rather than let it repeat.

Men's health issues mean a lot to me because I'm a man and because men get treated like subhuman creatures in modern society. Male cancers, such as prostate cancer and testicular cancer, get little to no attention in the media, and when they are mentioned they're usually treated as a joke. Though testicular cancer is relatively rare, it still needs to be addressed because it hits young men. We're most susceptible to this cancer between the ages of 15 and 40 years old, so teenage boys need to be taught how to perform monthly self-exams. Most of them aren't being taught this.

Men's mental health is also a serious issue. Men are discouraged from seeking help. They're told to "man up" and "grow a pair" if they ever show any sign of "weakness" - if they display any emotion. This is what happened to me for most of my life. I had C-PTSD, but I was told to be tough and make it go away by myself. I was told this by the women in my family. They could get help for their problems, but men weren't supposed to get help. This is why men are killing themselves.

We are lost

Wandering in the dark

I don't know where I'm going but I'll hope I'm heading where I ought to be

Wandering in the dark

No, we can't see.

But I know when I emerge with answers

I hope I can bring others searching to the light that I'll find

And all I can hope is they'll continue on

And not stumble and fall deeper into the void

-L. Cheese

I have a lot of stuff going on such as being transgender and a part of the church (lds type church) and also some mental health issues. But once I know what I'm doing and "escape the darkness" I hope I can bring others with me to safety. All I want to do is share love with the world so no one thinks they are alone. Even (in the metaphorical sense) bumping into someone in the darkness and saying anything- I hope I can save someone.

@Clarisse29

Toothless grins, cleft lip

Surgeons fix - such craftsmanship!

Keep chugging, Smile Train...