Tired of crap books with weak characters, where nobody has a father and evil is always relative, I decided to read the books so-called “the classics”, the first one being The Lord of the Rings. But then I thought: “why not watch the movies first?” Which was what I did this weekend while my uterus tortured me with menstrual cramps.

I am not a wife, and am not even close to being someone's girlfriend, but if I was one, I do wish my husband would be as brave as the men in Peter Jackson’s films I just watched. Willing to fight for freedom, strong to resist the biggest tentations in their way and faithful to their beliefs - they are characters worth to be set as an example for our youth.

My generation (I’ll be 35 next year) grew up without knowing the horrors of the Berlin Wall or the privations caused by World War II (until Ukraine’s invasion we had no idea what a war looked like). We had a safe window of time to consume, to eat, to travel, to be free. A freedom we owe to the men who were up to stand for what is right in order to keep the rest of us safe.

To those men I am intensively grateful.

I know it’s too late for me to be a mom now (I’m well aware that my oven has an expiring date). But I do hope I can inspire my readers to believe that their masculinity is not a bad thing as the world insists on making them believe. And may the next generations teach their kids to be as strong and brave as the men who protect Middle Earth in the (original) trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

(Brazilian girl writing about Brazilian things)