Hey, You're Handsome!

Is that your photo, Jose? If so, you're a handsome guy! (I've decided to begin expressing what I feel regardless of our society's insistence that we suppress and deny certain feelings and thoughts in order to avoid appearing to be "gay".)

Why, after all, should it be so socially unacceptable for one man to say to another, "I think you're handsome." Will he disagree with me?

Perhaps he will think that I'm "dando uma cantada" (singing to him, like a bird for mating). Well, so what? If he likes the bird and he likes the song, then what's the problem? (I'm a married flightless bird in Brazil, so that limits my interactions anyway.)

Will the world become a worse place if a man knows that I find him handsome. I don't think it'll hurt anyone, really.

I've discussed this with my wife. She's ok with it. She doesn't find it horribly unacceptable or unspeakably terrible that there are some other men whom I find handsome and attractive. She knows that I think one of my best male friends is handsome and attractive. For that matter, she knows that I think a lot of women are attractive. If the attraction to the women doesn't end our relationship, then why should the attraction to the men be any different?

You know what? If I hear a song that I really like, I tell my friends about it. If I eat at restaurant and I'm pleased with the food, then I tell my friends about it. If I think a woman is pretty, or attractively dressed, I tell her. So, from now on, I refuse to abide by the rule that says that I have to pretend to be unaware that there are handsome men in the world. I'm done keeping this awareness to myself. I also refuse to abide my the rule that says that if I find a man attractive, I have to keep that a secret.

There are some men in the world whom I find attractive, typically because their faces seem open, warm and guileless. I think those are very good characteristics in a person, be it a man or a woman. And that's what I find attractive. Those are the men whom I want for friends.