Short Answers

By Jeff Johnson and Paula Forman

 

THE “ARE YOU KIDDING?” DEPARTMENT

Dear Short Answers:
I have a good friend who is in the middle of a very nasty divorce and she has decided to share all the intimate details of her marriage with me and all her other friends. Including photos of her husband’s private parts. Although I sympathize with her emotional distress, I think she is behaving horrendously and possibly illegally by divulging such private and personal information. Should I tell her to stop talking about her soon-to-be-ex-husband or do we all sit still and listen and hope that she’ll get it out of her system soon?
A Listener

Dear listener:
Tell her in every way you can that this is no way to behave. And most importantly, STOP LISTENING!

 

APPLES AND ORANGES

Dear Short Answers:
What do you think of all this “identify confusion” that seems to be going around? Bruce Jenner thinks he’s a girl and some white woman from Spokane thinks she’s Black. Why can’t people just be happy with the way they were born?
RWT

Dear RWT:
These two examples are not the same — and neither of them is confused. Transgender behavior, meaning acts that depart from a binary set of norms associated with the gender to which an individual was born, are NOT acts of confusion. It is quite the opposite — it is an act of conviction. We are less familiar with transracial identity. Why can’t everyone be happy? We continue to ponder.

 

BROTHER BEWARE

Dear Short Answers:
My girlfriend and I are in an amazing relationship. Her brother is a jerk and makes her life difficult in general. We make plans with him and his fiancee, we are always cordial and extend invitations all the time. However, the bottom line is, we don’t really care for them that much. How do I navigate this situation and not be seen as “the boy who is taking her away from the family”?
Love Her/Hate Him

Dear Love/Hate:
Best not to make a large statement about this. It’s her brother/her call. What you can do is make plans with him less frequently and/or include others in your gatherings.

 

THY NEIGHBOR’S POOP

Dear Short Answers:
My neighbor (not a good friend) and I were out walking our dogs. My neighbor’s dog pooped in somebody else’s yard and the woman came out and started to yell at us. If it was my dog, I would have apologized and cleaned it up. But my neighbor started to argue back and they got into a screaming match. I didn’t want to get involved so I just walked away. I couldn’t defend my neighbor because I think she was wrong. Now she’s furious at me. Should I have stuck around and argued? I just didn’t think it was worth it. Who was right?
A Pooper Scooper

Dear Pooper:
In our view it is never okay not to pick up after your dog. What’s to argue about?

 

WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER
Dear Short Answers:
When will my employer let me take the entire summer off?
Over-worked

Dear Over:
Never. We don’t think you understand why they call it “work.”

 

Life is complicated. “Short Answers” isn’t.

 

Send a question about whatever is bothering you to [email protected] or go to www.shortanswers.net and a psychologist and sociologist will answer. A selection of the best questions will be printed every week in KonkLife.

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