Mars and Men

Are men and women really different?

I mean, there are the obvious differences. Men don’t have to shave their legs. Men can eat as much as they want without getting the ‘look’. Men can talk crass and people laugh. AND men get to pee standing up (Jealousy overload).

And women…. well, we get the beautiful pleasure of enduring childbirth, so…. yay for us.

But are men and women really that different?

I have met many men in my life. Some just in passing, of course, but there have been those lucky bastards who have the priviledge to get close enough to me to share their lives.

Opposites attract, right? But men and women… they are not so opposing when given the chance to be real. And I have learned we are not so different after all.

Like women, men are often calm, cool and collected in a crisis. They are strong and smart, and yet fragile. Men are just as indecisive on where to go for dinner. They can hug and love on the same kids they throw into a pool and wrestle with. They can be honest and faithful to those they love. They cry when their dogs die and they weep when they lose a friend.

Men are just as touchy, just as insecure, just as needy, and they long for honest companionship, just like women do. Men are just as real and raw. Just as wild and tame. Just as high and low. Men love just as hard, just as gentle, and just as deeply.

Today I find myself in the midst of a budding relationship with a wonderful man. A man who is different than me, yet, has the same hopes for the future, the same fear of failure, the same kindness of heart, and even the same semblance of gutter humor.

So, what now? Should I focus on our differences or embrace our likeness?

Well, the way I figure it, neither Mars nor Venus is actually inhabitable. But here in this space in between… I will thrive here.