Got Testosterone?

My brother David likes to say that testosterone is the great gulch that keeps males and females on opposite sides of myriad issues. If fact, he can find a way to explain any difference of opinion we might have in terms of the tragic absence of sufficient testosterone in females. In a recent discussion on the politics of the workforce, David claimed Saint Joan of Arc as the patron saint of labor disputes, and tied it to testosterone.

“The only reason they burned her at the stake was they mistrusted her ability to get men to work for her,” he said.

I said, “I don’t think so. Everyone knows that they burned her because she claimed to be under direct orders from above.”

His reply: “That’s just a woman’s interpretation. You think that way because you don’t have enough testosterone to see it clearly.”

Years ago, David was brutally assaulted at a bar in a very bad Philadelphia neighborhood. My brother is fearless: he liked the bartender, and considered it his manly right to pay homage to her frequently, despite the threats he’d received from scary patrons who thought he should go where he belonged.

When I picked him up from the hospital that night, I learned that his attacker had hit my brother in the temple with an empty bottle of Coors, severing an artery, and damaging nerves and blood vessels in the area. Still, when the police questioned him, David responded that he’d fallen off the bar stool.

I have to admit, I went ballistic on him. “You stupid nitwit!” I screamed, when he told me how he planned to find the culprit, and seek some form of convoluted revenge. Then I leveledĀ  him with further verbal abuse which I won’t repeat here.

“It’s a testosterone thing,” he replied. “You would’t understand.”

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About Myra

I'm retired in Costa Rica, having lived in Philly, State College, Salem Mass, and Kawagoe Japan. You might call me a career gypsy, but my last and best job was teaching English to some of the best and brightest kids in Philly. I'm new to blogging and websites, and will probably make all the mistakes there are, but now I'm sharing my writing. I moved to Costa Rica in June of 2009 with my husband Jack, my dog Buddha, and Jack's two cats, Hobbes and Noir.
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2 Responses to Got Testosterone?

  1. george says:

    funny myra fits dave good

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