Hi, my name’s Ray, and I’m a member of the male species. (Hi Ray.) Yeah, it’s starting to feel like a support group — and frankly, maybe we need one. Because after years of observation, both personal and global, I’ve concluded: we men sometimes do things that defy logic, gravity, and basic survival instincts. My daughters call it MS — and no, it’s not a degree. It’s a diagnosis. When my daughters were younger they thought the came up with an explanation for male behavior. It took me a bit to catch on. Once I did I knew they hit a bull’s eye. When we’d went on family outings we’d often come across a teenage male acting like many teenage males (I think it is a training ground for some adult male behavior). The girls would say, almost in unison, “That’s so MS.” At first I asked, “What does that mean?” “Nothing, dad.” They’d say and laugh. I asked my wife. She’d shrug. I knew it was a girl thing and I wasn’t allowed into that world. Well one day we’re out hiking in a park and I am getting perilously close to the edge of a cliff that was about 150 feet above a river. One of my daughters yells, “Dad, don’t be so MS.” My wife chimed in, “Ray, MS means male stupid.” Ouch!! When they say the truth hurts, it hurts. I was one with my species. I think I’ve matured, although I’m the only one collecting and interpreting that data. I do try to minimize occasions of MS.
