Men commandments
Road to making boys better blokes
NOT so long ago Brandon Clift came within moments of adding his name to a set of statistics that represent a national tragedy.
Two years on he’s doing all he can to ensure other young men find a reason to keep living just as he’s done.
“I attempted to take my own life but something pulled me back,” the 24-year-old says. “There was a voice in my head that said ‘Before you knock on that door, you have to give back’.
“And that’s when my journey began.”
That journey will reach a pivotal moment at The Southport School tomorrow when Brandon and friend Thomas Gardner host a free public screening of acclaimed American documentary The Mask You Live In, which explores how society’s narrow definition of masculinity is harming boys.
With the support of The Mankind Project Queensland, the young men have not only pulled the event together but snared a coup in securing guest speaker Ashanti Branch, the Californian founder of The Ever Forward Club that features heavily in the film.
“People think this documentary is directed at kids but I guarantee the dads are going to be impacted way more than the kids,” says Brandon, who runs a body and mind transformation business.
“Your (young) sons are just sponges and you’re their heroes. They think everything you say and do is the only way. I don’t think a lot of people understand the true impact the way they live has on others.”
That realisation was a lifechanger for Brandon, a deep thinker who grew up in a loving home but found himself increasingly confused by notions of manhood as he navigated his teens and early 20s.
“I went through depression at 22 because I had built these huge expectations on
YOUR (YOUNG) SONS ARE JUST SPONGES AND YOU’RE THEIR HEROES
myself,” he says. “I thought I had to achieve so much by a certain age to prove I was a real man.
“Even before that I’d look at everyone else (at school) and think ‘What do they have that I don’t’. These were the guys getting drunk, smoking weed and talking (expletive) about girls behind their backs. I thought that’s what it was to be a man and it was so prevalent but it was a distorted view.
“I remember how guys at school would talk (disparagingly) about girls but it wasn’t their words. They were just repeating what they were hearing elsewhere in society – from their fathers and brothers, in movies and songs.”
A key turning point for Brandon was completing an educational weekend workshop with The Mankind Project, which aims “to change the world one man at a time”.
“To be able to watch men much older than me going through similar stuff made me realise I’m not alone in this struggle,” he says.
The Mask You Live In, with special guest Ashanti Branch, will be held at The Southport School tomorrow from 6.30pm.