Hi All –
The bold statement was made Friday by a usually reliable
member of our group whose name I won’t mention but who’s initials are K.K.,
that people seem to be attracted by tragic or shocking events which is why the
media concentrates on that sort of news.
They seem to have a field day
when something bad happens. By
media, of course, I mean newspapers, television, radio and weirdoes ranting on
street corners. This is why you
will see headlines like “Dog Bites 3 At
Children’s Concert” and why you won’t see headlines like “Dog Helps Elderly Cross Busy Street.” I
suppose that if I wrote about Friday’s meeting in a way that might be
acceptable to a newspaper, it could be entitled:
“Friday ESL Group
Shocked By Blatant Double Standard Between Sexes”
Perhaps then my readership might jump from 2 (my wife and I
) to 3 people. Actually I’m not
sure that my wife reads this either.
Truthfully,
though, the group wasn’t shocked.
In fact, the lion’s share of
them were asleep I think. The
small minority of the group’s members, consisting of those who were still hanging in there, talked a bit about
manners between men and women with an
eye towards highlighting the changes that are happening in the relations
between the genders. These
changes, according to the article we read, began in the ‘60s with the rise of
the Women’s Movement. Feminists at
that time rose up and said, “We can open our own doors, thank you very much
and, while we appreciate you holding our coats for us, what we really want is
respect and equality. Do you
think, gentlemen, that you can manage that without losing your manhood?” Change in this direction has been slow
but inexorable since.
Now when I was a young boy, (there were still dinosaurs
roaming then), I was taught to treat women (and by extension girls) with
respect. This meant that I
shouldn’t kick a girl no matter how silly or bratty she was acting. Nor was I allowed to slander her no
matter how much malicious gossip she might be spreading about me. Girls could be merciless tomboys when
it came to persecuting boys but when the boys wished to turn the tables and retaliate, then these same darlings became
fragile creatures protected by the rules of chivalry.
Now girls, you see, become interesting to boys around the
teenage years. At that time, the
dread ritual of dating arises. The
boy nervously picks up the telephone, dithers a bit, screws up his courage, finally calls the girl and asks if she would
like to go on a date. She says
something like “Sure, but can my little sister come along?” The boy then says “Um, no. Two’s
company but three’s a crowd. Your sister would be a fifth wheel.” On the
appointed day, the boy dresses to impress the girl, trying to look like someone
with deep pockets so she’ll be
attracted to him. The worst, though, is when her father takes the boy aside to talk turkey. He’ll brook no
nonsense from anyone dating his daughter.
Nowadays, things are changing so anything goes. I’m
just glad that I met my wife when I knew what good manners between men and
women were.
Cheers!
Kevin
Reminder: If you are unsure about the meaning of the
idioms used in this message, please refer to "Idioms, Figures of Speech,
and Proverbs" posted in August. An alternative is to look at http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com
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