Because the
relationship between husband and wife is so close, it's not surprising
that they can be easily hurt by the words they say to each other. The
words that tend to cause hurt feelings depend, according to the
priest-columnist of the Peace Weekly, on the biological differences
between male and female. In his weekly column on happiness, he explores
the effect of our gender differences on a couple's happiness. Whether
this is mostly myth is the reader's choice to make; it does make for
interesting reading.
In the male, speech is controlled by the
left hemisphere of the brain; in the female both the left and right
hemisphere control speech. When the left hemisphere of the brain in
both the male and female is damaged, as sometimes happens in a violent
accident, the male loses his ability to speak, the female does not.
From the time of creation God made man to speak 10,000 words a day while the woman was made to speak 25,000 words, says the columnist. Let
us suppose, says the columnist, that during the day both the husband
and wife, at work or in the home, have spoken 10,000 words. Then that
evening when they are together, let us also suppose that the husband
doesn't want to talk anymore while the wife still has 15,000 words she
wants to share with him. It's easy to understand why the woman becomes
frustrated, believing that he simply does not want to talk.
Continuing with the gender differences as they manifest in our everyday behaviors, the columnist says the
male can do only one thing at a time while the female can do many
things. The woman while active doing something, let's say cooking, can
also do a number of other things, like listening to what is being said,
talking on the telephone, among other things; the man, supposedly, can
do only one thing at a time. He says the woman's sight is also more
developed than the man's, distinguishing more colors. When a couple
goes shopping for clothes, determining what goes with what is often a
contentious issue. The woman also has better visual memory than a man's.
At any large gathering of people, the man will remember only a few of
those he meets, the woman will remember many. The man also loses more of
his hearing ability than the woman.
The woman, however, finds it
more difficult to follow directions. And with age the woman loses
spacial cognitive abilities.This is something husbands would do well to
remember, he advises.
Man's skin is four times the thickness of
the woman's. She, however, has more fat which allows her to endure the
cold better than the man. However, with age she shows her age quicker
than the male because of her thinner skin.
The woman's senses are also more acute and she is more emotional. When the husband is sick she often begins her caring efforts with words of comfort and then prepares
the medicines and food. When the wife is sick many husbands do not know
what to do. He is often less perceptive of what his wife is feeling,
sometimes only noticing his wife's anger after the instigating situation
has passed. With a husband whose senses are dull, and a wife who is
very sensitive, there is bound to be conflict.
The obvious
consequence of these gender differences for a man and a woman living
together is likely to be unhappiness, unless, says the columnist, the
couple learn to accept the differences between
the sexes, and refuse to make them into an obstacle in achieving
happiness together. Once this is accomplished, a beautiful harmony
becomes possible, with the man and the woman taking turns deferring to
the other in areas where the other is more competent.