When I was in my teens, I took it upon myself to fix the cellar door. We had one of those sloping cellar doors that made a sort of ramp when closed. Two doors that closed abutting each other. The support at the upper end of the doors had gone bad and needed replacement. A simple fix, a nailed strip of wood.
When my dad came home and I showed it to him, he was upset that I had taken it upon myself to do that. I didn't understand. I thought I did him a favor. That question mark stayed with me for about 70 years and was finally resolved recently.
A visitor noticed that the door of our apartment slammed shut when released upon leaving or entering. So he put in a maintenance work order to have it fixed. Guess what? I took exception to that. I just didn't think it was appropriate. In a way, it reminded me of the situation with my dad.
Then it dawned on me, a basic truth of manhood (it may also be of womanhood, but not being one, I don't know). We have what we consider our domain. When we feel it's been invaded, or compromised, or threatened in any way, we react. It's pretty simple, it is not necessarily rational, more visceral.
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