Matters That Matter: Connected by Common Threads
Men and women. As different as…. night and day, cats and dogs, sweet and sour, hot and cold. It is true, we are pretty darn different animals. The differences have become the stuff of late night TV monologues, stand-up comics and stereotypical sitcoms. We get a lot of mileage out of bashing the other sex, and a good laugh at one another’s expense. Yet it isn’t all fun and games. There is often a serious undercurrent to all of our jokes and jabs. Men are asked to act more like women, to be more sensitive and communicative. Women are expected to toughen up and quit taking things so personally. As a result, we can find ourselves at odds with one another, and uncertain of ourselves.
The truth is, men and women are different. That is good news. Let’s begin with basic anatomy. Start at the waist and go any direction you want. The terrain looks mighty different. And so it should if we want to avoid extinction. Our brains are wired differently. Emotionally, we tend to respond and conduct ourselves in vastly different ways. Thank the gods and goddesses. Those differences have kept us alive and evolving for hundreds of thousands of years!
If we focus on the ways in which we are dissimilar, and wish that “they” were different, we miss a much deeper point. That point is that we have so much more in common than those things that work to keep us apart. We are all connected by common threads regardless of which side of our shirt the buttons are sewn or whether we pee standing up or sitting down. Regardless of gender, we seek to connect to others in meaningful ways. We look to live in relationships with others whom we love and trust. No matter what, we want to be seen, known and loved for who we are, not who others expect us to be. We strive to find meaningful work and a way to use our gifts and talents, thus making a difference in the world that only we can make. We feel happy and sad, loved and rejected, courageous and terrified, encouraged and despondent. That doesn’t make us men or women…. it makes us human beings.
The eSSSence of Molly Davis
Style: Courage, contentment and grace for all to see -- and a great pair of cowboy boots.
Substance: Pay attention to what matters.
Soul: We are part of something bigger than ourselves.
