The Middle-Age Male 'bond'

[kbobam]

I'm convinced that this is a 'built-in' trait we have.

It usually remains dormant until the age of 50 or so, probably because

the 'big five oh' feels like such a life-changing event for so many of us.

I remember when this first became apparent.

I was sitting in a lunch area with four other guys.

After we'd shot the bull for a while, I had this wonderful 'brotherhood'

feeling come over me. And part of it was the amusement that I was the

only 'white' guy there, but I wasn't the 'odd man out'. That distinction

belonged to the guy who was twenty years younger than the rest of us!

We had little interest in talking with him.

It's kind of a neat thing. It reminds me of the "there are no atheists in foxholes"

concept. You get to be a certain age and suddenly there's an automatic

'respect' going on for others like you. They've 'been there and back'.

Being a 'guy' is really difficult, and it just seems to keep getting 'more so'.

So all of a sudden it doesn't matter anymore whether you used to hate

'conservatives' or 'liberals', or whether you were a 'homophobe' or a 'racist'.

All that stuff disappears! We're all in this together!

P.S. Just addressing one particular idea here, but I have no doubt that

being a woman is equally 'difficult'. ( :

[Steph]

Men of a certain age

[ausman]

Men of a certain age

I resemble that remark!

[lstmmrbls]

Having eliminated the bigots and haters from my space I have a wonderful "Band of Brothers" and it seems to grow by the day. I think the mellowing with age has helped a whole lot.