I love you, man
I like obits better than just about anything else in newspapers, most days, so it wasn’t unusual that I read about the passing of Goober. This part I read, then re-read:
Every straight man loves other men – their fathers and brothers, their grandfathers, and so on – and sometimes can even say so. But it’s hard. To the consternation of women, who are smarter about these things, we are socialized to never, ever say what Andy Griffiths said. We are taught that it is against our nature. That it’s weak.
That’s absurd, of course, and we know it. But we still do it. For instance, as I type this, I am wrestling with whether I should tell you if I have ever done what Andy Griffith did, so plainly, with his now-departed friend.
As many of my female friends will tell you, I believe that the vast majority of men are emotional cripples. We’re messed up. And, perhaps, our inability to be honest about our feelings is what lands us in trouble so frequently.
What say you, O Wise Readers? And, for the male ones, have any of you said what Andy Griffiths has said, recently?
