Chapter 7

This is Chapter 7 of my never ending short story. To read previous chapters click on the links to the right. I post new chapters every couple of weeks (generally Saturday mornings).





Previously:

............ Love is the condiment of life.

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I fell into the crankiness of winter. The sun, though it was still there, was obscured, drowned out, washed out and flooded into obscurity. The dullness of the sky was reflected into the depths of my soul. I was determined to give her a project which she could not accomplish. For days I racked what little was left of my active brain for a topic.

“The Difference Between Men and Women” is the age old question used primarily by comedians and far less by those more serious. The age of political correctness has only heightened this divide which is why I settled on this for the next assignment. Though she could write humor she was far from a comedian and far too young to have much insight.

When I picked up her paper I was furious. The single sheet contained only the title and two lines:

Men are goal oriented.
Women are process oriented.

I scrawled a big “F” across the vast blank space on the paper and stuffed it into my coat pocket as I headed to the student cafeteria. As usual, she was there surrounded by books. I tossed the crumpled paper in front of her without a word. She looked up and said “Well?”
“Well what?” I replied.
“Well, are you upset?”
“You bet. You failed."
“Would you be as upset if you were a woman?”
I felt like stumbling over backwards. “What do you mean? I’m not a woman – how should I know?”
“Why are you upset?”
“Because you wrote only two thoughts – no supporting evidence – no explanation – nothing!”
“What I wrote were the Truths regarding the topic.”
“How am I to know they are ‘Truths’ as you say, when you give no supporting arguments?
“I didn’t need to. You just proved my statements.”
“I did no such thing!”
“Yes you did, even though you probably are not aware of it. Sit down and I will explain. You gave this assignment because you really wanted to know the answer. I gave you the answer but not in the form you desired. You came here without so much as combing your hair or straightening your collar – because your goal had not been reached. If you were a woman you may have come but ‘she’ would have checked her hair, straightened her clothes, checked the weather outside and walked (not stormed) over here. Men are goal oriented. A man seeks a goal. A woman may seek the same goal but the process of achieving it is important as well. You came over without so much as getting a cup of tea first. A woman would have probably done just that and then sat down to chat for a bit before getting to the point. Women are process oriented.”

“It may very well have come from the time when we humans were hunters and gatherers. Men, because of their strengths, were the hunters. Success was succeeding in the hunt. The ‘process’ (hunting) was not what drove the men; it was the result of the process which put food on the table. Women were the gatherers. Collecting a single berry could hardly be called a goal. The goal was to go out and spend the day collecting a basket full of berries to put on the table. Can’t you imagine the dinner conversation of eons ago? ‘How was your day hunting, dear?’ ‘It was miserable! Not a mammoth in sight.’ ‘Well the berries are about gone but we had a good time looking for that last remaining few down by the river.’”

“How about the stereotype of the husband and wife which go on vacation to Yellowstone? The man drives non-stop with the wife complaining the whole way about stopping here or there to go shopping or sight seeing. The man is going towards his goal –Yellowstone - while the woman is taking a ‘trip’ to Yellowstone. “

“A couple is going to the symphony. The woman may have to go out and buy a gown for the occasion; get her hair and nails done; get fixed up just right. It is all a ‘process’ of going to the event. A man, on the other hand, will pull his one suit out of the closet, dress and then wait impatiently in the car in order to get there on time. Both love the music equally but the man is going to hear the music. The woman is going to the symphony.”

“Which is better? It depends on whether you are a man or a woman.”
“Now, if you still have doubts about my ‘Truths’, then think about sex.”