posted
Oh, I know it was a joke. Only the first sentence of that post was intended as a direct response to your post. Then I got to thinking about the subject of puberty and adulthood, my mind started to wander, and the rest of it was just thinking out loud. I have this proclivity to just type wherever my mind takes me and then post without stopping to think, "Do I really need to say all of that?" I guess it does kind of seem that I was ranting against you, doesn't it? Sorry about that. I didn't mean to give that impression.
Edit: In retrospect, one might think I'd have taken more notice of the 'kill a man' part. Once my mind goes off on a tangent, though, it's hard to get it back on track. Something I'll have to work on. . . .
posted
I was actually surprised that you took no mention of it. It kind of disturbed me that you would not focus on the truely disturbing part of my reply.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Well, if I thought that you actually were saying I had to go kill a man before I could call myself a man, then yes, I'd be incredibly disturbed. I naturally assumed that part, at least, was a joke. I probably should have responded with a joke of my own and left it at that, but I was already stuck in serious mode by my internal musings about the true relationship between puberty and maturity, so I got distracted.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I think we have so many questions about manhood because our culture doesn't really have any established view about what constitutes manhood. If you study most primal cultures, they all have definite standards that delineate manhood and it usually involves taking responsibility for something, someone or both. Without some sort of guidance, many times adult males that should have a clue about being a man end up as big boys. They then run around making a complete mess of their lives and blaiming others for the complete mess.
It all boils down to how you think and respond to life around you.
Posts: 392 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
BTW, I get really ticked when I am not refered to as Mrs. by people who know am married. The people at Safeway, for example. They know my name, my husband's name, and some of them know my kids names. They know we're married, yet insist on calling me Miss Fanta when I'm in the store. That makes me so angry! I work way too hard and have way too many battle scars to be a Miss.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:BTW, I get really ticked when I am not refered to as Mrs. by people who know am married. The people at Safeway, for example. They know my name, my husband's name, and some of them know my kids names. They know we're married, yet insist on calling me Miss Fanta when I'm in the store. That makes me so angry! I work way too hard and have way too many battle scars to be a Miss.
That's interesting. I'd never thought of the title 'Mrs.' as being a badge of honor before. I just consider it a culturally ingrained reflex that I would address a known married woman as 'Mrs.', so I can't imagine why a member of our own culture, who presumably understands the usage of the words, would deliberately call a married woman 'Miss'. I could understand if they said 'Ms.', as though that meant anything, out of respect for feminism. But 'Miss'?
quote:I think a good rite of passage would be to memorize all of Caddyshack.
Whoa. I've never even seen Caddyshack. Does that mean I'm still just a boy, after all?
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I wasn't saying that being a Mrs. is a badge of honor, so much as saying that "Miss" is kinda degrading, for a married woman. To me, anyway.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I just meant because of your saying you "work way too hard and have way too many battle scars." It sounded like you were saying you'd earned the right to be called 'Mrs.', and using 'Miss' instead was like symbolically trying to take that away from you. Apologies if I misunderstood.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Good analogy. I may not have gotten my manhood sorted out yet, so to speak, but I would be offended if anyone called me a boy, especially if they knew how old I am.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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