I hesitate to post. I got my hand slapped, in a different post, already for being unclear. My fault and I deserved it. I believe there are challenges that each gender faces a little differently. All of this is caught up in the cultural minutia that we all supposedly subscribe to. Two inaccurate statements that are often taken as facts, you probably just read them this way. We all don't believe in the same cultural identity of America. We all probably couldn't pin point what that is. Gender again is loaded. We could probably only agree on one thing that identifies one gender from the other. The ability to carry and nurture a growing human.
Women SEALS? Check.
Men SEALS? Check.
Transgender Seals, Probably check.
Rocket scientists? Yup
Spies? Ditto.
Presidents, and Prime Ministers. Yes (not yet in the USA but one day).
So at the hook we are talking about generalities in both cases of Gender and Culture. These general ideas start to form generalities that we use to make decisions. They start to form part of our internal programing and this starts to effect our perspective of reality. We see a little, we perceive more, and we add our programing to the situation to give, or assign a meaning to it.
We are all affected by our hormonal make up. Boys and Girls. This chemical addition to our decision making process should be understood by all genders.
Remote Siberia, late fall.
We are six days behind schedule, emotions are strained and everyone is keeping to themselves. The weather is not being kind and we have had too many breakdowns to afford another. We all want to meet our Class A at the big town supported by a "highway" and are tired of the slog. We have to do a river crossing and the cold weather may have given us a present that we all desperately need. My wife is editing some dialogue notes into Russian and I am spotting our driver in the Hummer. We reach the river and the boys get out. We pick a crossing and send the Jeep (the lightest) no problem. The ice doesn't creak or groan and we are all inspired as we can see an old timber cut road a few yards from the river. This is a straight line route to the class A. We are vindicated, and insert hormones here, INVINCIBLE!! One Uaz, two Uaz, three Uaz four Uaz, all cross without a problem. My wife gets out and goes to the expedition leader and says something. Then I see her go back to the Hummer, take out two pieces of luggage, and then start to walk across to the other side. I catch up with her. ""Whats up?"
"I feel like the Hummer is too heavy and we should attach the winch to one of the UAZ before going across. Ivan doesn't agree and told me to be quite."
I see her point, a moment earlier I did not, and I was certain the ice was thick enough. Why should I be? I don't have any advanced knowledge in ice physics. Ten minutes to run the line seems like a good time expense. I begin to walk over to Ivan when the Hummer crosses. The ice broke. Remarkably the hummer made it 3/4's of the way across bobbing like a floundering whale, and the winch was only a couple of feet under the frozen water. But it did add an hour, and some blue fingers, to this segment.
We often make the mistake in thinking that only one of the genders are affected hormonally. This is most certainly not true, however culturally it is more ok to say one gender is over the others. To put finer point on it the appreciative glance may be perceived as a leer, depending on all the factors influencing the perceptions of those involved. Talking about it, learning about it, sharing about it, should never be discouraged. I myself am not smart enough yet. I don't know about anybody else but having a place to share these kinds of thoughts is helpful in making me a better person than yesterday, and that is all I can do.
