Writer’s Rant
May 6, 2024
Close Friends
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just have to find the ones worth suffering for.” (Bob Marley) Men and Women are different in so many ways. Take “friends” for example. As a man, I don’t have many “close” friends, even at my age. In fact, even if I did, there would be fewer and fewer every year. I don’t think it’s unusual; men, in general, don’t have close friends. But I decided to check with chatGPT for it’s viewpoint on exactly what being “close friends” means: “The concept of a ‘close friend’ can vary based on individual preferences and cultural norms, rather than strictly (or often) by gender. Generally, a close friend for a man might be someone with whom he shares deep emotional connections, trusts, and feels comfortable being vulnerable around. Similarly, for a woman, a “close friend” would likely embody these qualities as well. However, societal expectations and communication styles might influence how men and women express and perceive closeness in friendships.” I don’t know any men who share with other men deep emotional connections, trusts and feels comfortable being vulnerable. Men just don’t do that. Sure, we have “friends”; guys we can talk to about sports, politics, religion and yes, women. Guys we can fish and hunt with. Talk about cars and our toys. We can even talk about music and movies, as long as it’s country music and not a rom-com. Women are different, but not being one, I am only surmising that they share much more intimate things than men do, like feelings and emotions (and maybe men). It appears that they (women) are ok with feeling vulnerable to other women and these other women give them advice without judging or making fun of them. They are much more empathetic than we men. Men don’t usually sit around and talk about their troubles with other men. That could be construed as a sign of weakness. Weakness does not win wars (especially between men and women). So, what’s a man to do? Make close friends…..with a woman. And if you’re married, make it your wife. 5/6/24
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