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Int'l Men's Day 2019 : History, significance and powerful quotes by 10 greatest men

By Wendy Amarteifio
international men's day
Int'l Men's Day 2019 : History, significance and powerful quotes by 10 greatest men
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The theme of 2019's International Men's Day is "Making a Difference for Men and Boys," and focused on promoting the need to value men and boys and help people make practical improvements in men and boys health and well-being.

International Men's Day (IMD) is an annual international event celebrated on November 19.

The objectives of celebrating an International Men's Day, are set out in "The Six Pillars of International Men's Day", include focusing on men's and boys' health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, highlighting discrimination against men, and promoting male role models. It is an occasion to celebrate boys and men's achievements and contributions, in particular for their contributions to community, family, marriage, and childcare. The broader and ultimate aim of the event is to promote basic humanitarian values.

International Men's Day is celebrated in over 80 countries, on 19 November, and global support for the celebration is broad. International Men's Day is followed by Universal Children's Day on 20 November, forming a 48-hour celebration of men and children, respectively. Additionally, the month of November is also occasionally recognized as International Men's Month. International Men's Day is supported by a variety of organisations including UNESCO.

Inaugurated in 1992 on 7 February by Thomas Oaster, the project of International Men's Day was conceived one year earlier on 8 February 1991. The project was re-initialised in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago. The longest-running celebration of International Men's Day in Malta, where events have occurred since 7 February 1994.

Jerome Teelucksingh, who revived the event, chose 19 November to honour his father's birthday and also to celebrate how on that date in 1989 Trinidad and Tobago's football team had united the country with their endeavours to qualify for the World Cup.

Teelucksingh has promoted International Men's Day as not just a gendered day but a day where all issues affecting men and boys can be addressed. He has said of IMD and its grassroots activists, "They are striving for gender equality and patiently attempt to remove the negative images and the stigma associated with men in our society".

READ ALSO: International Women's day: Ghanaian women advise against over-dependence

Inspiring quotes by some greatest men from across the world

1. Nelson Mandela

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

2.Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.

3.Abraham Lincoln

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.

4.Albert Einstein

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

5.Bhagat Singh

The sanctity of law can be maintained only so long as it is the expression of the will of the people.

6.Martin Luther King Junior

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

7.Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

Thought without practice is empty, and action without thought is blind.

8.Gautam Buddha

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

9.Chinua Achebe

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised

10.Barack Obama

The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.