Why do people seem so angry, aggressive, and unkind—even later in life? In this thought-provoking episode, Lee Gale explores where cruelty and competitiveness come from, questioning whether these behaviors are part of human nature or something we learn from childhood and society. From playground bullying to sports, social media, and everyday interactions, Lee challenges viewers to reflect on how subtle acts of aggression affect our relationships and our happiness. It’s an invitation to choose empathy over conflict and create a more compassionate way of living in our later years.
Lee Gale Gruen is a regular Podcast contributor for The Transitions Network. She is an actress, author, speaker, and blogger. She focuses on how retirees can customize their retirement to fit their own personalities, interests, and comfort level.
WEBSITE: https://leegalegruen.com
EMAIL: gowergulch@yahoo.com
BLOG: “Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years”:https://leegalegruen.wordpress.com
BOOKS ON AMAZON.COM:
“Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire” https://tinyurl.com/33x9vmcx
“Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class” https://tinyurl.com/5d3yycjw
Click to see Full Transcript
Lee Gale Gruen (00:00.994)
Hello, welcome or welcome back to my podcast, Retirement Made to Order. Tough, strong, aggressive, angry. As a child in junior high school, it was a big deal who was the best at put-downs, verbal violence, kill or be killed. Where do kids learn that? At home? In the community? One thought.
Sports are games of aggression, even seemingly innocuous ones, like board games, such as chess, not only for the players, but also for the spectators. As we watched, we are whipped, a very aggressive verb, into a frenzy of excitement. We want to see pain. Blood is even better. Athletes are our avatars. They do what we can’t do for ourselves vanquish, destroy, or
When if you think this behavior occurs only among children or younger people, think again. It is dragged through one’s life right on into retirement. If the aforementioned description applies to you, then unless you had a major epiphany somewhere along the line, chances are you have carried it into your golden years in one form or another. Some time ago
I heard a radio report about the running of the bulls in Spain. It’s a prelude to the bullfights, one of the cruelest of modern day sports. I attended a bullfight in Mexico about 40 years ago, not having any idea what I was actually going to see. Observing the audience was as eye-opening as the bullfight event itself. Whole families were in the stands.
From grandparents to toddlers to witness the spectacle. They had picnic baskets to dine while being entertained by the ceremonious goring of the bull, with spears to weaken it beforehand for the eventual kill by the matador. This is just a variation of the ancient public gladiator performances where someone’s death was the prize.
Lee Gale Gruen (02:28.097)
I thought to myself. Once I read about the proliferation of elephant poaching to harvest their tusks for the lucrative world market in ivory. There was a description in the article of a baby elephant that was taken to a village and tied to a post as a toy for the local children to torture. What is this twisted behavior all about?
Teaching children how fun it is to torture a helpless animal? And perhaps by extension, another human being? The old nature versus nurture puzzle still puzzles. Is cruelty inherent in human nature or do we teach it? If the latter is predominant, why? People don’t have to thrust the bullfighter’s sword to be cruel. They can do it very subtly.
They can snob others. They can post mean social media comments. They can one-up each other and on and on. We think we’re so civilized, sophisticated. How does aggression and cruelty jibe with that? Do we get better perks in life being contentious and brutal? Are we happier? Only Gail Gruen, I hope you’ll visit me again here on my podcast.
Retirement made to order, hosted by the Transitions Network. I will be regularly posting new podcasts every week. Feel free to contact me if you want to comment on any of my podcasts. You’ll find my email address in the information that follows, or in the description section at the beginning of each of my podcasts, along with links to my website, my blog, and my two books.
available on amazon.com. Goodbye for now.