As American as going postal

Friday, 17 September 2010 - Some days are just harder than others. Some days, you hope that the world would just stop spinning long enough for you to get your bearings and give you a moment to find a crutch. Then there are days that just seem to come and go, and you don't remember there being a difficult moment. What makes a good day good, and a bad day challenging? And how do you get through the rough spots without patches?

Like your favourite pair of Levi's as long as they can still be buttoned up, and your butt cheeks aren't falling out of them, life can be pretty comfortable, until you get your ass caught on a nail and a tear opens up. Suddenly you are faced with a few choices. Do you throw out the old jeans in favour of a new pair that may or may not fit as well? Do you try and mend the old pair, and hope the patches won't show too much? Do you just go ahead and walk around with a gaping hole and hope few people notice how bare you really are? Is vulnerability such a bad thing to show? Why is it in this country, showing vulnerability can be perceived as a negative? The roles we play are so clearly defined by our genes, so it doesn't matter what jeans you wear.  Or does it?

It's as American as Apple Dumpling Day to be a guy's guy. The macho American stereotype is alive and well everywhere you look. Hit the local pub and there is sure to be a table of guys on one side of the room checking out a table of gals on the other side of the room. They are rarely at the same table, and when they are, there is still a dividing line. It is as American as Levi's to hide your emotions and stuff them down. It's a hard place to be when you have so much going on in your life that you want to look for that crutch. It's even harder when you need to be there to be the crutch for others. It's American to hold everyone else up, and stuff your feelings deep down where even you can't get to them.

If you stuff your emotions down long enough, and you support those around you long enough, the people who you hope to support you will assume you are fine and move on.  If you stuff your emotions long enough, you can partake in that other great American tradition... going Postal.

After a particularly bad day at work, a bad day at home, and then bad news we don't always know the best way to deal with the pressures and stress. Talking it out can certainly help, and finding someone you can talk it out with - or to - is one way to deal with things. It may even be more productive than an evening alone with Mr. Fiddich.  There is always the gym, and the Bonobo chimpanzee method of uncomplicated physical 'relations'. You could take a walk, take a break, take time to savour dessert, take a few clips to a target, or take a nap. Life is complicated. The best way to treat complications is with the simple things in life. That may not be 'American' but it sure is human