“The scribes and Pharisees represent another kind of man in the world today. In the story, ironically, they are church people. They take religion seriously, yet they are trying to block the work of God. They are involved with religion, yet they want nothing to do with healing, freedom or the giving of life. They are trapped in their heads, caught up in their moral principles, blinded by their doctrines. They watch from a distance, critically observing what is going on, in order to accuse. They are men of ill will, but ill will carefully disguised. The best way to be a hateful person and not to feel an ounce of guilt about it is to be hateful for God.” (>>)

“Recently a young woman told me that she was breaking up with her boyfriend, and when I asked her why, she said it was because he never did anything on his own. He never took the initiative, either in their relationship or in the rest of his life. He was always a follower, never a doer, never proactive about anything. She was the one who always had to suggest things to do and places to go. He was always attentive and caring, considerate and cooperative, but he never came up with a new idea and asked her to come along. Slowly she lost respect for him as a man, and in the end, she pitied him. He had no male energy to challenge and energize her own energy.

“I know a number of women who pity their husbands. They cannot admire them because they never do anything to arouse their wives’ admiration. The men go to work and come home dutifully every day. They take out the garbage and do whatever the wives ask them to do, but that’s the extend of their energy.” (>>)

“Foy felt a rush of adrenaline and his heart pounded. He had forgotten how wonderful a thing it is to make a woman laugh, to be lost in conversation with her and to see a smile come onto her face. It was almost like male banter, but with a lighter touch. Cautious and polite but pushing the edge just a bit, just enough but not too much.” (>>)

“I’ve been to a lot of huge public events in this country during the past five years, writing about sports or whatever, and one thing they all had in common was this weird implicit enmity that American males, in particular, seem to carry around with them much of the time. Call it a laughable generalization, fine, but if you spend enough late afternoons in stadium concourses, you feel it, something darker than machismo. Something a little wounded, and a little sneering, and just plain ready for bad things to happen. It wasn’t here. It was just…not. I looked for it, and I couldn’t find it.” (>>)

This is a good story from Chasing Hats. Make sure you check out the reader response, too.