We've elected a President who does not understand the basic underpinnings of society and is seeking to undermine those underpinnings. I am not exaggerating here. Read my previous posts. Society, every society, is based on differences between genders. There are different gender roles. This specialization happens naturally because of basic, fundamental differences between the sexes that are universal.
In every society, women are mothers. This is due to obvious biological factors. I believe it is also due to emotional and psychological factors. It is not a bad thing. Mothers do a great job at raising children. Men are fathers. They generally defend and provide for the home while the mother spends her time mothering. This has been the case in virtually every successful society. I'm no anthropologist, but I know of no major civilization in which this wasn't true.
This is true because it works. It is a successful system. From it comes good people who can do the same and raise more good people. This system means society is perpetuated. This is a good thing. Take away a mother and you lose a certain amount of compassion and womanly care. Take away a father and you lose a certain amount of judgment and certitude.
We must have men and women. One without the other is incomplete. We have become too individualistic as a society. A society cannot function without people working together and complementing each other. I'm studying economics. I'm good at it. I like to swim, but I'm not very good at it. Michael Phelps is a great swimmer, but he may be lousy at economics. Even if I would rather swim, I choose economics because that is the only way I'll survive in this world. If I tried to make a living off swimming, I'd probably fail. Michael Phelps does very well focusing on swimming, but if he tried to do economics, he probably wouldn't be all that successful. Even if he were better than me, it is better to have him swim. It will be more valuable (and entertaining to all avid swimming observers), to watch him swim than to watch me swim. Thus, I end up doing economics. There needs to be specialization. If we all do everything, then we won't get much done. We could try, but do we really want to give up computers, running water, electricity, cheap clothes, reading time, video games, etc? We need specialization.
Parents specialize. And men and women specialize. There are things that women are, in general, better at. I'm not talking about sewing or singing or any stuff that most people have figured out is just a traditional American view of women. I'm talking about empathy and compassion. Motherly things. Patience and understanding. Once again, women do not have a monopoly, but they have a relative advantage over men. Men tend to be stronger, more decisive, more objective. I'm trying to be careful. Having not studied psychology, I won't claim this is completely objective. But I will say these things follow from what I have observed. Men and women are different. It is better for girls to be raised with a woman in their life and boys to be raised with men in their life. And, of course, these traits balance each other. It is ideal to have a man and a woman in each child's life - a mother and father. Obama's scariest goal is to open up adoption to same-sex couples. This idea is going to mess up many children. It will blur and destroy gender lines. Along with marriage and gender lines and an understanding of what a family is goes society. Men and women need to be able to work together in this society. How can they do that if they don't know how a man or a woman should act? How do they know how to respond to sexual urges? How do they know how to treat another with respect if every man and woman is simply seen as an asexual individual? How are successful families created without any guidelines or boundaries?
Now, this won't n happeovernight. It will take years. But it will happen if we allow gender lines and rules to disappear. Society will collapse. There will be many other pressures and problems, of course, as there are now. This will not be the single cause. While sand under a part of the foundation may not cause the building to collapse when the earthquake hits, I would rather the entire foundation be placed upon solid rock. Marriage between a man and a woman is a vital part of that rock for society.
1 comment:
You make a strong argument for delineating the lines of gender and the roles of the sexes in society. I wonder, though, if a non-theological argument can truly stand. For those whose sexual urges and tendencies cross the traditional lines of gender, the argument sounds hollow. A woman may be decisive, competitive, and have sexual urges that attract her to a feminine woman. A man may be nurturing, motherly, and be genuinely attracted to another man. We can't deny the reality of this fact in arguing for traditional marriage and families. I have not yet zeroed in on the argument that can defend traditional marriage without bringing God and his plan into the discussion, and perhaps that is as it should be.
Post a Comment