What you need to know: Summary:
Walking away from a toxic family is a thought harbored by many men who have but lack the confidence to execute it You have many men who have to go home over the holidays even though they will be miserable.
You don’t owe people who hurt your allegiance just because they’re family ONE of the biggest mysteries of my childhood was my mother’s obsession with Princess Diana. It was a shared generational love across the world for women their age.
It took me a while to finally figure out why this woman from the royal family thousands of miles away had an impact on black women. Her break from protocol and her humanity had her standing out—which was made easier by the fact that they were comparing her to the cardboard-stiff royals.
Black women all over the world also felt that they connected with her because of the mistreatment that she underwent in the royal family for going against the grain.
I hadn’t seen that in years until Prince Harry married Meghan Markle and the royal wedding made international headlines and black women all over the world were backing Meghan yet again.
They rallied behind her because she was being attacked by the media for being mixed race, they stood up for her again when she and Harry decided to leave the royal family and again this week in the Oprah ‘tell it all interview’.
There’s an old African saying that goes, ‘The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth’ and this rings true each time I hear men talk about their childhoods.
Truth is more of us men should be brave enough to break blood ties and society should be more accepting instead of accusing us of abandonment. You don’t owe people who hurt your allegiance just because they’re family. Family can hurt and break you worse than anyone else especially if they think you’re never going to leave.
Choose yourself now or live a lifetime of regret. Reach the writer on: mwthoithi@gmail.com or the editor on: satmag@ke.nationmedia.com
