Will B.Fighting

Maybe not lately, but when I was much younger, not whipper snapper age but teen angst years for sure, it seemed a way to make friends included fighting. Sometimes verbal and sometimes physical.

I am not sure if it was just a male thing or a woman involved in this strange ritual, but I made some of my best friends after a good fight with someone I didn’t know. I witnessed this with others as well and even witnessed this in many movie plots.

Why exactly is this a thing? Is it an instinctual male ritual to see where we fit in with a group? Who knows? I know it to be true, though, from firsthand experience. You see it in movies and T.V. shows, two guys from very different backgrounds with maybe not so much in common have a feud that leads to a physical or verbal fight, and then just like that, they are best of friends. Was it something to do with establishing hierarchy in the new friendship? Then once the alpha is revealed, the two or even group of males can move on with the new friendship secure in their ranking within the group?

I am honestly OK with the ritual to some degree. Something is comforting knowing we found our place in life and the relationships we foster. It is a simple ritual for males that is sometimes violent and aggressive but almost always a very brief encounter. Then we move on to what could be a lifetime friendship at the most and the least a mutual respect.

Although I have been in many leadership positions in the work environment, I almost always choose to fill the role of the beta or loyal No. 2 in a friendship or group. I am usually happy to go along with whatever adventure I find myself in a group, content to fill the role as the loyal No. 2, supporting the leader.

This is Will B. saying, who are you in the group? Alpha or Beta?