The Goose, Gander, and What it Means to Choose Your Partner Every Day
We should be free to be ourselves in relationships, and do more than just endure each other until the end.
I recently wrote a piece about relationships between men and women in which I stated the following:
Here is the real “work” of relationships and the heart of mutual respect…compromise. It is NOT about not standing up for yourself, it is NOT about not maintaining healthy boundaries; it is about having a clear headset that “what is good for the goose” is in fact “good for the gander.” Love understands that compromise actually opens up your options and gives you a greater freedom to experience life and each other more completely.
I had a friend take tremendous umbrage at my use of the phrase “what is good for the goose is good for the gander” in this context. In fact, she opined — I do not think you understand what healthy boundaries are — when I told her I could write an entire post about the veracity of this statement. I have to admit that I did originally question my own choice of the archaic phrase because I realized it was possible I would be told, in the words of the great Inigo Montoya, I do not think it means what you think it means.
