What Arab Men Can Learn from Ryan Gosling’s Golden Globes Speech

As you probably already know, Ryan Gosling just snatched the Best Actor in a Comedy Award at the 2017 Golden Globes. While this came as no surprise to anyone, because, hello have you watched La La Land. What was surprising though, and more importantly very touching was his speech.

After addressing his co-stars and telling them that this award is not only his, but theirs as well, he talked about how he could’ve never done it without the help and support of his beautiful wife, Eva Mendes.

He said that while he was filming the movie (working), his wife was the one raising their daughter, pregnant with their second child, and nursing her terminally-ill brother who was struggling with cancer and unfortunately didn’t make it.

The impressive thing here (and the whole point of this rant) is the understanding that Gosling has towards the importance of his wife’s role in his life. He knows and fully acknowledges that without her taking care of their daughter, he wouldn’t have had the time to do what he loves best, and win a Golden Globe for it. He doesn’t think it’s the wife’s job to raise the kid anyway, he doesn’t believe that it’s not his responsibility, because he fully understands that it’s a shared responsibility between the two of them.

Let’s not generalize here, but sometimes, Arab guys assume that it’s a given that the woman will raise the children and they don’t have to contribute just as much. Mendes is a very successful actress, she has her own career, which she might have put on hold to be there for her family, as well as take care of her sick brother. Gosling doesn’t assume that he’s the man and she is the woman so this is how it should be, and this is exactly what Arab men should learn from him. A wife cooks, cleans (manages the whole house basically), works, raises the kids, and doesn’t even get a thank you in the end, when the truth is it’s a shared responsibility. Why should she be the one to do all this alone? So, the least that a man can do is give her credit where it’s due and thank her for the love and unconditional support.

WE SAID THIS: As Gosling humbly said, “You don’t get to be here without standing on a mountain of people,” and this is always the case, whether it’s the man depending on the woman’s support or vice versa. Yet, giving credit where it’s due, being grateful instead of expectant is a character trait that we should all aim to have.