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International Men’s Day is Changing the World as a Voice of Masculine Encouragement
“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.” These are the wise words of Yehuda Berg.
The founder of Shed Happens, ‘Watto’ Watson, got right to the point when he said, “I have never seen a man go backwards with encouragement.”
‘Watto’ was a professional truck driver who spent the last half of his life teaching men to drive. His personal motto was “Every man’s a champion”. I still have my two-axle truck licence. It took me two goes to get it. Already my ego is dented in the telling.
I reckon I would have got my licence the first time with Watto because, as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”
Men Need Encouragement
We all need encouragement. If you ask any man in the street if he needs encouragement, the first thing he is going to say to you is ‘no’. But you and I know that is not the truth. As Henry D. Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Our male ego prevents us from admitting our need for help or encouragement.
The statistics tell us the truth. Each year, worldwide, 493,000 men die by suicide — two men for every woman. In Australia, the ratio is three men for every woman.
In a recent YouTube message filmed outside the NSW Parliament at the Empty Men’s Shoes display, Nat Marsh, CEO of Dads4Kids, pointed out that this equates to 2,500 men and boys each year.
Arguably, each man takes his own life because of a lack of words of encouragement from his fellow human beings. Encouragement is a lifeline!
The good news is that the team at Dads4Kids, with your help, has been actively trying to encourage men and boys globally by promoting International Men’s Day for the last 18 years, since 2008. Last year, in 2025, International Men’s Day was celebrated in 110 countries, as documented by David Maywald, Chairman of the International Council for Men and Boys.
We believe that, through the promotion of International Men’s Day (IMD), all of us at Dads4Kids (yes, that includes you) have collectively saved an average of 493 men each year from suicide. That equates to one in 1,000 of the annual worldwide total. Over the last 18 years, that amounts to 8,874 men and boys who are still alive today because of your incredible support.
In some ways, these are small numbers when we consider the overwhelming crisis in male suicide the world over, but the good news is that together we are doing something.
While walking along a beach, an elderly man saw a young boy in the distance who was picking starfish up off the sand and gently tossing them back into the ocean.
As he neared the boy, the man smiled and said, “Why are you throwing starfish back into the water?”
The boy replied, “The sun is up, and the tide is going out; if I don’t throw them back in, they’ll die.”
The man commented, “But, son, don’t you realise that many, many starfish have washed up along every mile of this beach? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The boy listened politely. He then bent down, gently picked up another starfish, and tossed it past the breaking waves.
“Sir,” he replied, “I made a difference to that one.”
As the Assisting Global Coordinator for IMD, I have been meeting amazing men and women over the last few weeks. Each of these individuals has been making a difference for men, one man at a time, just like the boy on the beach.
Shane Matthews, President of the Mt Isa IMD community group here in Australia, has raised over $250,000 over the last five years to help men and boys in their region.
Torben Haugaard, who leads the Danish Men’s Council for Men and Boys, is forming a Nordic Council for Men & Boys this week. This new council will bring together Nordic countries such as Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland. Ultimately, this will help millions of men and boys in this region of the world. They are influencing government policy for the better.
Ed Bartlett, from Washington, DC, USA, founded the International Council for Men and Boys in 2023. The council now has a thousand member groups and individuals worldwide and is growing day by day. International Men’s Day has helped with this growth.
Kat Anna is the founder of Men Need Love Too, a global movement, community and podcast dedicated to men’s emotional, mental and relational wellbeing. Kat is based in Canada and is a professional counsellor and advocate for men. She is promoting IMD to the United Nations. See the advocacy page on her website here.
Lovework
Hold a fundraiser for International Men’s Day to help Dads4Kids continue promoting International Men’s Day here in Australia and around the world. Get a few friends together for a coffee, a few drinks or a barbecue sometime in November to encourage each other to keep on keeping on. Why not then pass the hat around? Remember, every gift is tax-deductible. You don’t have to wait for an event. Donate now!
Yours for men and boys,
Warwick Marsh
PS: Just this week, my wife and I received a 15-second tribute video from Daniel Bettinelli, who is a wonderful advocate for boys and men from a new generation. My wife and I were deeply encouraged. Perhaps you could call or send a message to someone this week to encourage them. I think Daniel calls this the Ripple Effect.
Republished with thanks to Dads4Kids. Image: Adobe.
ODM Daily Commentary
Let’s be honest: The numbers are staggering, and the Church is largely silent. Worldwide, 493,000 men die by suicide every year. In Australia, three men take their own lives for every woman. That is not a social statistic; it is a spiritual emergency. And yet, how many pulpits address it? How many men’s ministries are built around the simple, biblical act of encouragement? Warwick Marsh’s article is a rare and much-needed voice in the wilderness.
Scripture commands us to encourage one another—and it does not treat this as optional. “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). Encouragement is not a soft extra; it is a lifeline. And for men—who are so often taught from boyhood to hide their need—it may be the difference between life and death.
The tragedy is that our culture has spent decades telling men they are the problem. Masculinity itself is treated as toxic. Fathers are portrayed as buffoons or threats. Boys are told to sit down and be quiet. And then we wonder why men are withdrawing, why they are angry, why they are dying. As Watto Watson understood, “I have never seen a man go backwards with encouragement.” But we have built a culture that offers men almost nothing but criticism, and the fruit is visible in the suicide statistics.
What is the answer? It is not government programs or therapy alone. It is the Church recovering its calling to speak life into men. The apostle Paul wrote, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). Fathers must bless their sons. Pastors must encourage their men. Wives must be careful with their words. Friends must be quick to call, quick to write, quick to say “I see you, and I am glad you are here.” The starfish story is not a cliché; it is a call to action.
International Men’s Day is not a political statement. It is a spiritual necessity. If we do not speak encouragement into the lives of men and boys, the enemy will fill the silence with despair. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Let us use ours to build up, to heal, to strengthen, and to save. The Church must rise up and become a voice of masculine encouragement once again.
Keywords
International Men’s Day, men’s mental health, male suicide, 493,000 men, suicide rates, Dads4Kids, Warwick Marsh, encouragement, Watto Watson, masculine encouragement, toxic masculinity, fatherhood, boys, Proverbs 18:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:24, Ephesians 4:29, church men’s ministry, starfish story, mental health crisis, Christian responsibility, speaking life, spiritual warfare, wake-up call
