Thursday, November 26, 2009

Women from Venus, Thank the Lord

One of the hardest things for me to deal with, regarding the differences between men and women, is the way we each vent or de-stress.

I can't count how often I have just "talked to myself," or made idle chit-chat with a guy (related or co-worker or whatever), and he seems to feel it is something he has to "fix." He'll try to take over the situation, tell me what I should do, as if I didn't already go through his suggestions in my own head a long while back. Most times, I'm just letting it "go," just getting it out of my head, and out of the way, whatever it is that I am saying or venting.

Men, however, build up the stress because they do not know how to do that. Which, I suppose, is why men know how to throw a punch and I do not (although sometimes I wish I did know how - LOL).

I remember something Ray Bradbury, the sci-fi author and futurist, said to our writer's group in southern CA back in the 80s. He was speaking about women. He said that he felt very much in tune with women who wanted equal pay for equal work. However, he begged us women to resist trying to be like men in other ways. He said that women have a way of taming down a man, of softening his worse traits. If we become like men in aggression, in anger, and in many other ways, then, he said, "May God help this world." He had a strong point.

Dear God, fill me with the grace to resist any urge to change the gentler side of my character, and give me the patience to deal with men who want me to change.

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