Boys Men

Yet another trite cliche. There are so many cliches associated with the "gender wars". You'll hear them most any given night at a club or a party where groups of singles commiserate with each other over the sad state of (their) affairs, blaming the "other side" for being completely irrational and most unwilling to play fair in the Mating Game.

It's the essence of self-delusion, isn't it? Sure, there's a certain amount of truth in any cliche. That's why they become so entrenched in the common vernacular. Girls are sugar and spice, boys are snails and puppy dog tails. "Women are from Venus, men are..." and on and on it goes.

Well, yes. Boys will be boys. Men are a definite subset of the species. Like it or not. And just as any cliche has an element of truth, there is also an enormous amount of extra embellishment that gets thrown in to spice up the rumor as it gets passed along. That's not to say that the truthful part shouldn't be acknowledged. But why leave it at that?

There's so much pressure to fit in, regardless of the gender. Men prove their worth by exhibiting their virility. Women prove theirs by exhibiting their attractive qualities. It's not a Mating Game, it's the genetic code that impels nearly every human being on earth to propagate the species.

So instead of focusing on an inherent truth that's so obvious it's not even worth mentioning, why not focus on the possibilities that each person represents? It's amazing what happens when you separate the "man" from the "boys". You find a unique human being. Amazing.