The last argument I remember hearing between a man and a woman was last weekend when I was at my aunt and uncle’s house. My uncle is 100% Italian with a hot temper, and my aunt is pure Irish with red hair and a disposition to match. My aunt was angry because my uncle was home all day watching sports and hadn’t even done his own dishes while she was out taking care of her ill parents. Their argument quickly escalated. My uncle couldn’t understand why my aunt was mad. She said if he loved her he should have wanted to do the dishes. He didn’t understand why he would ever want to do the dishes. He said he would do them right then, but that didn’t make the situation any better. My aunt brought up many other times when he had done other thoughtless things. It was like they were speaking a different language. He started laughing at her which really made her mad. She was pretty convinced that he didn’t love her, and he just thought she was acting crazy. She was still arguing with him as he left the house.

I have heard about the book, “Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus,” but I’ve never paid much attention before to how much difference there really is in men & women’s thought processes. During the argument I observed, my aunt was much more concerned about how my uncle was making her feel. My uncle was focused on the dishes themselves. They either were not listening to each other, or they really didn’t get what each other was saying. The more my uncle did not get what my aunt was saying, the more past events my aunt brought up. I have never been married or in a long-term relationship, but communication must be a real challenge.