Hey guys, welcome to the Kirk Cameron Show. Today’s kind of the Kirk and James show. This is a safe place for dangerous conversations. I have them all the time with people when I’m not on camera, but so many of them are worth sharing with you that I’ve asked James to talk about one of the conversations we had recently.
I don’t remember if it was at the house, around the campfire, in my truck, but we were talking about how legitimate is it for men to show vulnerability. Should men have a softer side to them? Should they show emotion? Should they open up and be transparent even if it means they could get injured in the process? Or are men supposed to just be tough and show no emotion? What do you think? I think it’s complicated.
and I looked into it through just a bunch of research. Um, and I wanted to share some of that with you. There’s not a lot of physical data, but there’s a lot of anecdotal data just cuz people are different, people think different, people process different. Um, but what I found was that men account for approximately 80% of all suicide deaths in the US despite representing only half of the population, 50% of the population.
Men commit suicide much more frequently than girls. Yeah. 80% of the total suicides within the US are men. So eight out of 10 people. Another study came out and it showed that men who openly discuss their mental health are 60% more likely to report improved well-being overall in their marriages, in their personal life, in their work life, and all of that.
60% more likely if they are able to express their personal feelings. Yeah. Guy guys need a place to talk and vent and know that they’re not alone in their struggles. Yeah. And so you’re kind of at a crossroads right here where what is the correct way for a man to express his emotions to for a man to be comfortable to be vulnerable and express how he’s feeling. Yeah.
where where where when in what circumstance should he be doing that? So I looked at the ultimate source of truth and I looked through the Bible. I said, “What does the Bible have to say about men being open and honest and real and supported by other people?” In Ecclesiastes 4:es 9-10, uh it says, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. That’s right. I think when I when I read that verse, I think of the friends in my life, the times when I’ve been at my lowest and I’ve had no one to talk to. And just in general, I tend to bottle everything up.
