For most, we can opt in or not. Others were decided for you.
For instance just being a guy locks into certain rules. Rules that have been dutifully passed down generation to generation for…literally….generations.
By way of example….here are a few of the rules by which guys must conduct themselves.
- When your friend is making something on the grill you have to stand next to him and talk about how amazing this food is gonna be.
- You can ask to borrow another mans rake, or shovel…but you can’t ask to borrow a power tool. That right must be granted, not requested.
- You can hug another man…even outside of church…but you must bump chests and pat the other on the back at least twice.
- When you’re tying down a strap you must say “That’s not going anywhere” or you will lose everything on the trailer.
Yes, women have their own code that is as baffling to me as what I have written above is baffling to almost all women who read this.
The point is…I will never understand yours and you will never understand mine. I can, however, understand that your code is as important to you as mine is to me. I don’t need to understand everything to accept and respect the fact that it is fundamental to you. You don’t need to be like me, nor I you, for us to be friends. We can be different and still be unified.
Radical, I know. Ain’t it cool?