TIMOTHY S. KLUGH
LITERATURE





A Bit Of Thinking



Copyright © 1988 Timothy S. Klugh. All Rights Reserved.





While I retired the other day, an interesting topic entered my mind. It was a topic that had never entered my mind before. I figured that the subject had to be of some value, therefore I decided to further pursue it. I found the topic interesting because it is a handicap to me. My phobia of it has made it quite unreachable. I tend to call it "Affectionphobia", meaning the fear of being affectionate.

It is not that I don't like being affectionate. As a matter of the fact, I admire affection and romance as much as any other human. My problem lies on what to do and when to do it. Like the other night--I took this attractive young woman on seemingly some sort of date. Everything went fine by my standards. I found later that I might have offended this lady because I didn't kiss her goodnight. On the contrary, I thought I would have offended her by trying to kiss her goodnight. A friend of mine told me that most women expect that (to be kissed). My friend also told me that I may have lost this woman because of it.

So, I gather that not kissing a woman goodnight is a big insult. O.k., O.k... I'm a man of the '80's. I can deal with it. Now, how do you kiss a woman goodnight? Do you gently hold her hand, say, "I had a really nice time," and kiss her? Well, I can't do that. I simply fear the affectionate gestures.

Why do I fear it? I can't really say. I guess a good reason would be that I am not totally experienced in the field. I'm afraid that the lady might be offended. So, how do I overcome this? One good way would be to ignore my fear and do it. That would be hard to do, but it is the only answer I know.

A bit of thinking can really be dangerous. Therefore, I disregard it.



(Journal Revised: Saturday, 06/29/1996 01:31.00 PM)



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