Typically, I am the first to wave the red flag when I see women disguising their all-too-natural gift for manipulation as intellect or altruism, but in the case of this very cute and very true article about the not-so-glamorous, day-to-day of married life, I have to delight in the writer's playful twist on the less viscious form of maniplation I'll henceforth admiringly refer to as "cleverness."
In "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage," writer Amy Sullivan gives both spouses a chance to laugh at themselves as she explains her discovery that husbands (and humans in general) are not at all unlike the circus animals she found herself researching for a book project, and can be easily trained by heeding just a few simple principles. As she says, "The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband. "
And as she wisely concludes as she pokes fun at herself at the end of the article, so can the American wife.
Clearly this isn't gospel truth, but it is a nice reminder to not take our own or our spouse's weaknesses so seriously. Hopefully it will give you at least a hint of a smile too....
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