"Notes" #24

Did You Know-Men and Woman Are Different?

I was brushing my teeth the other morning, (absolutely no connection to what I am about to say), and this thought popped into my head. Why is it that a great many men think they are always in a positive place, that they are in the best of humour, that they are ready to party and play, and that their wives/partners are just "party poopers", always finding a way to derail their fun-loving ideas?

My work has introduced me to this scenario many times. Men see their wives/partners as always worrying about where the babysitter will appear from in the next hour because 'someone', after his baseball game is having a barbecue and they are invited; or where the money will come from to pay for the new (ish) auto/truck; or where did their partner get the foolish idea that fixing leaking faucets is more important than a Jets game?

Do you think women are more responsible than men? Do you think men have different priorities than their wives/partners? (Talk about no-brainers!) I do believe that both sexes are very capable of thinking that their way of seeing things and acting is absolutely the correct way. Herein lies the problem; both think their way of seeing the world is the correct way. I call it having Universal Truth. Nobody has Universal Truth--we just think we do. So are you ready for this shocking observation - men and women are different! Mmm! But so are men and men, and women and women different. So ok, we're all different, but men and women are more different, I think!

Did I just change the tenor of my original thought, that men think they are more fun than their wives? So, getting back on track, I need to say- yes I believe that men find it easier to find time for fun, and yes they can appear to be more fun because they are less responsible than their wife/partner. Maybe because they think less about the consequences of their actions, they feel they can be more fun and spontaneous. Or maybe, as males, their entire upbringing is one of entitlement. In many cultures male babies are more cherished than are female babies. Or just maybe we males are more self-centred by nature than are our selfless partners. I don't know what the correct answer is when it comes to the differences between men and women. However, I do know that relationships could be better between the sexes if they learned to really listen to each other and accept their differences. Both sexes need to stop reacting to what the other says or does and take 5-10 seconds before responding appropriately.

We need to stop reacting from our "correct" (Universal Truth) way of seeing the issue and learn to respond, having listened to the other person and having thoroughly thought out a response using "I" language.

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Might be the end of the season, so here are a few bits of golf humour.

You Should Sell Your Golf Clubs
 
  Jim decided to tie the knot with his long time girlfriend.

One evening, after the honeymoon, he was cleaning his golf shoes.  His wife was standing there watching him. After a long period of silence she finally speaks. "Honey, I've been thinking, now that we are married I think it's time you quit golfing. Maybe you should sell your golf clubs."

Jim gets this horrified look on his face.

She says, "Darling, what's wrong?"
 
"For a minute there you were sounding like my ex-wife."
 
"Ex wife!" she screams, "I didn't know you were married before!"
 
"I wasn't!"

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So the mailman is retiring, and all the ladies on the block get together and decide to do something special for him after all his years of delivering mail. They decide that they will each leave $10 in their mailbox for him.

On his last day, the mailman opens the first box, finds $10 and is very grateful. And on and on, $10 in each box, he feels like a rich man! On the last house on the street, he opens the box, find $1 and wonders why... then the door opens, and the lady is standing there in a sexy black negligee and waves him into the house. She takes him into the bedroom, and has her way with him. He is smiling, but asks why?

The lady says, "I told my husband what we were doing, and he said, nah, screw him, give him a buck!" And so she did.

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Experience Pays Off

A young avid golfer decided he had time to sneak in 9 holes before he went home. Just as he was about to tee off an elderly senior golfer asked if he could join. Unable to say no, the young man agreed and off they went. To his surprise the old man moved quite well, did not hit far, but walked fast between shots. On the last hole the young man pulled his drive and it went
into the rough behind a 20 foot tall tree.

He suggested he would have to punch it out until the senior said, "When I was your age I could hit it over the top of that tree". Not to deny a challenge the young man took out a 7 iron, lined up, took a hefty swing, and sure enough the ball hit the top of the tree and fell back at his feet.
The boy looked at the old man and the old man responded, "Of course, when I was your age the tree was only 6 feet tall."