insight

As I grow into my position at the church and various matters come up, people reveal their colors. There is one man that I haven't really been able to get a handle on--he's not especially outgoing, and though he appears reserved I have seen him laugh and smile. Email exchanges with him, though there have not been many, are direct and to the point.

Over the last several days in an effort to get clarity on something we have had several email exchanges. I now feel that I can refer to him as cranky. I wouldn't call him a curmudgeon, because he doesn't seem ill-tempered or sour, but he isn't exactly approachable, either.

In thinking about whether or not he might be described as a curmudgeon I got to wondering what the female version of that person would be called. A google search suggests that there isn't a word, though one person nominated the comic strip character "Maxine" as epitomising those "virtues." Another suggested Ann Coulter, which made me laugh. I don't think she's old enough to be a curmudgeon, but something seems to be perpetually stuck up her butt.

I actually don't think this particular man at church is a perpetually cranky guy, he's just expressing crankiness about a matter with which he is uncomfortable. That's probably true of any number of people. I think, rather, that he lacks finesse (again, he has company there), and perhaps looking at his behavior has the potential to help me overlook how he acts and instead focus on the matter at hand.

I'm glad we had this little talk. Thanks for being there.