Extremes

  Depending on the definition being used it has been seven to ten generations since the founding of this country in 1776. That's two hundred and forty-seven years. Seems a lot longer though doesn't it. Most of us will only witness three generations. I read where the average life span for a man in America is 76.5 years. That's a good increase since 1776 when that age was 38. The mortality rate has certainly declined due to advances in medicine and an easier lifestyle. Not near as many hunting accidents these days unless you count slipping on the floor at the grocery store. The urbanization of America has led to an increase in the lifespan. That's what I think anyway. But for every plus there is always a minus, a price to be paid. It appears that cost for the male of the species is the loss of masculinity. In fact, some call that toxic these days. 

 The thing is however is that masculinity enabled the founding of this nation. It was that masculinity that tamed the wild west and conquered the land. It was a mindset. It still is a mindset. Being masculine isn't toxic, it is as normal and natural as anything else. Yes, it comes in degrees same as most everything else. There are extremes. But attempting to eliminate masculine traits altogether isn't the answer to that. I posted what I found to be an amusing bit of dialogue from one of my favorite television shows, the Waltons. In that piece of fiction Emily Baldwin speaking to her sisters says, I liked it better when men where men, and her sister replies, and women were glad of it. I was further amused by some of the responses I got on that posting. Some women seemed threatened by that and some guy's feigned disgust, but secretly they agreed. 

 Is this a cultural thing? I'm thinking that very well may be the case. Not being a sociologist or having studied any of that I can't speak with authority. I can speak from seventy years of experience, however. The earliest generation I can remember was my great grandfather. Some of his attitudes did seem a bit stern to me. He would definitely hit you with his cane if you misbehaved. Not hard enough to bruise you but hard enough to get your attention. My grandfather passed before I was born and so can't speak about him. Dad, on the other hand would spank you when you were little. After a certain age, and I can't say what age that was now, that stopped. It was at that point you got the lecture and some form of punishment imposed, mostly, you're grounded! Privileges were withheld. Things like, going outside, watching television or going to your room. No, nothing enjoyable allowed. Sometimes you just had to sit in that chair without anything to distract you and think about what you had done! Dad will let you know when you have thought enough, might be hours. Yes, the threat of violence existed, you didn't challenge that possibility. 

 Still, I was raised in a time when a man was expected to be and do specific things. We had a role. The traditional role of providing and protecting. That's what men had been doing since the dawn of time. The women were in a supporting role. That didn't mean they were subservient to men. Yes, there were men that thought so, that's the extreme that existed, but that wasn't the normal thing. Women fought for their rights and gained them. What rights were they? The right to vote, to hold property, hold political offices, and receive an equal share of any assets a couple acquired. Those were the rights. Oh, they could have a cigarette too. You could say that whole movement was the result of toxic femineity. Strange I've never heard anyone talk about that though. But the action is the same, it's an extreme. Women today may be ridiculed and ostracized for supporting the, "and women were glad of it" attitude. 

 There are two of the species for a very good reason. That is what is necessary to the functioning of society in general. Hey, God, didn't say Adam is lonely so I'll make Bob! No, he made Eve. In fact, he made two of almost every species on the earth for the same reason. And in those species, there is the dominant one and the more submissive one. With mankind however we were given the capacity to think and reason, to act beyond instinct. Animals can learn that isn't any big surprise, but can they think and reason? No, I don't think they do they just act upon instinct. 

 Man changes his culture. No lion has ever decided that killing a wildebeest for the evening meal isn't right. Attempting to create some sort on unisex society isn't going to succeed. The reason is obvious if you just think about it. There are two sexes, two genders and they are different. No matter how much you may personally believe or feel otherwise, that fact remains. There are men and women, and their basic physiology is different. They are different in varying degrees that much is certain and always have been. In the past we labeled those differences depending on how much they deviated from the normal and expected behaviors. In short, what they like. Today we are insisting the abnormalities are to be accepted as normal. It's normal to be abnormal. That's the thinking here. A cultural shift? Seems that way to me but I also believe it isn't sustainable. We are reaching an extreme.