the other side by Never Wm. M. S. Hall (@2018)

Someone once told me that I shouldn't be so strict ...so serious ...so hard line about everything.

She said that I needed to try be more idealistic ... more open-minded. That I needed to get in touch with my feminine side.

My answer was that it was,
"Impossible. I don't have a feminine side. Or, if I do, it is so minute, and so deeply buried, you would have to seek it out on a molecular level.

"There is nothing feminine about me.

"I am a man, as a man, I do not waste my days fantasizing about how 'if I could just change this one aspect of this other person, maybe I could be happy. Or 'if this other person would just do this one thing, my life wouldn't be so bad.'   And then get bitter and vindictive and clinically-fucking-insane when the other person doesn't do things my way.

"I don't function that way.

"I prefer the hard line, because the hardline makes sense.

"I can change my suit, my car, even my address, but I will never try to change a person. You go over them, under them, around them, or through them. But you do not try to change them.

"People do not magically become who we want them to be.

"In fact, more often than not, they become people we dislike, even more.

"So, instead of sitting around conspiring about how a person can be manipulated, a man simply looks for the next personality ...and keeps looking until he finds one with common goals; common interests.

"The Feminine side is the one that plots and schemes and corrupts reality into fantasies about how to change the environment to suit her tastes and preferences.

"The Masculine learns to endure the weather; you kill a few sheep for blankets and food in the winter ...you carry a supply of water in the summer ...and, at night, we're content with curling up under a tree and hoping that nothing bites while we sleep.

The Feminine respond to every aspect of life from emotional high-ground; this makes me angry, so it has to change ...this makes me sad, so it has to change ...this hurt my feelings, so it has to change ...this just feels wrong, so it has to change.

The Masculine see life from a clearer perspective. If it hurts, you know you're still alive; quit whining and keep moving. As far as your feelings go; if your flesh ain't bleeding and your bones ain't broken, you ain't hurtin too bad; quit whining and keep moving.

People think that my perspective is cold and cruel, uncaring and brutal. But if real men didn't think the way I do, we'd still be sitting outside of the East Gate trying to figure out how to get back inside The Garden.

Whining, 'If we could just make God understand that it was a mistake, then everything would be perfect, again.'

"Well, apparently, God doesn't have a feminine side either. Quit whining and keep moving."