Do men and women really differ that much?

An age old question which many people ask. Why is it that we think men and women differ that much? Are we really that different?

Let's go back to when you were still in the womb. I know...that's a looooong time ago. A growing fetus doesn't even have defined genitals until in a later stage. Men and women start at the same point. The Y and X in our chromosomes determine how our organs are going to grow, including that one. So actually...we all started from the same point. We were all the same, men and women.

Of course, after some time we start to differ from each other in growth, as we all know.
OK, but how about now?

If we look at emotions, women and men are different. This is because we tend to differ in what emotions we feel and when, but the most important difference is how we let the world know how we feel.
This has a lot to do with culture and common morals of how men and women should react to certain situations. Add to that personal feelings and you could say everyone would have different emotional reactions. I wouldn't say it's definitely to blame on being male or female.

Then there's also behaviour. This is also largely inherited from cultural differences, common morals and of course your own environment. I don't believe behaviour is that much reliant on whether you're female or male, but much more on who you are as a person.

Lastly we also have bodies. Of course we differ! (Yeah duh...) But I guess this stems from evolution. We are supposed to differ, because of what we do in life. Women have to give birth according to nature, so we have to have fat around our butts and big breasts to feed the children, so naturally this transforms us into the oh so known sand figure shape. Yeah, not alot of us look exactly like that, but you get my point.
And men are supposed to be strong to fight off whatever evil is going to harm their children and to bring food to the table by killing animals (LOL, old school pre BC. cavemen&women). Yes...our body shapes are still a remnant of old times, when we used to do nothing more than survive and produce offspring.

So yeah...we do differ alot...but then you have to wonder...is it bad?
I think it is actually a good thing that we differ alot. Why? Because our differences, combined, are strong. We're like Yin and Yang, we support each others weaknesses with our strong points.

I mean look at these examples:
Women talk alot, men are quiet (OK not all of them, but most of them).
 Women are sensitive and might cry or be frightened more often, men will provide the shoulder to find comfort.
Women are tactical, but might take a long time, men are straightforward, but fast.

OK I'm generalizing a bit here, but you get my point. We help each others weakness with our own strength.
Isn't that just wonderful? I think it is.

What do you think? With what do men and women differ? Do you have your own Yin & Yang? Leave a comment and share it!

S.P. van der Lee

Recognition of life in inanimate objects?

In my daily life I often see figures that resemble things that are familiar to me. Like for instance, when you look at trees, you can see those little knots they have on their stems. If you look closely it almost resembles an eye.

Like this one to the left:
It's like this huge gaping eye staring into your soul.
Odd and scary I'd say...but also very fascinating.
You should look around your neighbourhood and find trees like these. You'll be surprised how many there are just like these!

Another thing that always catches my eye are cars. Yes cars. Not because they look great or race with the speed of light, no, it's because they almost seem to have faces. No I'm not kidding.
Have you ever looked at a cars front? If you look at the two headlights and the rest of the front you can almost define an actual face on it.

Just look at this picture to the right for example.
It's almost like a smiley face on a car or a gloating child.
Cars scare me...if you can see the face. It makes me uneasy, because I start thinking they're alive or something... of course they aren't! But yeah...our mind's eye can creep us out.

Another beautiful example of strange recognition in life are clouds. Clouds often hold shapes that we recognize from something in our own lives.
Of course these clouds don't form this shape because they want to. It's just pure coincidence that it looks exactly like something we know.
It's because our brain sees things the way it wants to. Our brain has to give meaning to shapes and forms. That is why we try to recognize every shape there is. Even though the shapes are absolutely normal, it's still fun to look at them.
Look at this one for example:
It's a nice cloud formation....which looks like a child.
Amazing!

Daily life can grant us lots of fun by just looking at things and can inspire us to create.

Try to find odd things in your area and post them here!

S.P. van der Lee

Infinite?

 Hi guys and girls!

Well I haven't been writing much lately, I know. It's been like what...2 weeks?
Anyway, I have been sick for the past couple of days, actually the entire last week and it was really the worst thing that could happen, because I just started my new semester at school and I missed all of the schooldays..
The reason was that I had a 39.7 (!) fever and a harsh cold on the chest, which put me in bed/on the couch for nearly the entire day..
I guess that was my in-between-internship-and-school vacation...although not quite enjoyable.

Now that's been said, I have had some time to think about certain stuff, like we all do.
And here's an uncommon question for you.

We live in this big universe, of which the boundaries are not yet known to mankind.
I often wonder: what lies beyond? Does it ever stop? And if so, what lies beyond the galaxy?
Some say it is infinite, but..what exactly is infinite? Something cannot go on forever, can it? I've never heard of anything that goes on forever...

 Sometimes I think: this galaxy is big, but maybe it ends somewhere. what if our universe is entirely in some kind of glass globe, somewhere on some giant's table which is then in an even bigger galaxy?
How big is the universe actually? It's just mind boggling thinking about it...

That's something we cannot answer at this point in time and probably not until the extinction of man...but still it's a very fun thing to think about!

Want to share your idea of "What is beyond the universe"? Let your creativity loose on the subject and post it here in a comment!

S.P. van der Lee