10/25/2005

 
HOLDING DOORS, BAKING PIES: Upon entering the vestibule of Starbucks on my way to order a grande nonfat no-whip mocha, a funny thing happened--a young North Face-clad student stopped to hold the door.

In college towns, in fact in most towns, chivalry is on a respirator. There are stunningly few men who understand that yes, holding doors, paying for dates and offering to do the heavy lifting--among other gender distinct roles--is okay. We're not all feminists who snap off heads and shout bias while bed-hopping, defending abortion and lamenting our past injustices.

Shortly after this incident a great friend, former Heritage colleague and current public policy fellow at Pacific Research Institute, e-mailed me an article produced by her firm about an amazing phenomenon.

A recently submitted questionnaire at Yale found that a whopping 60% of female respondents plan to stop working after having children...and PRi's Sally Pipes has a 'lil somethin', somethin' to say.

Opening doors to bake more pies? Or, preventing your child from picking up 13 deadly strains of influenza and a bladder infection at daycare? You decide.

Comments:
Laura,

I'll hold the door open for you any day. And as a guy who honestly intends to open every door, pay for every date, and lift boxes far too heavy for my feeble arms, I will defend to the death a woman's right to choose...her own path in life. If you're smart enough to get into Yale, you're smart enough to decide if a family's worth sacrificing your career.
 
Whoa Laura...is he hitting on you?
 
No.
 
Jeez, well thanks for not hitting on me, Tom. :)
 
If you are picking anything over your family, then you have about a dozen screws loose. Smart? Hardly. Selfish? In spades.

We fool ourselves into thinking our children won't mind if we put in 80 hours per so we can drive a big, shiny SUV. So what if we miss their first steps...first day of school...10th birthday party - we're doing it for THEM. Or so we self-delude ourselves.

Nope, the truly stupid people on this planet are those who value a plasma TV more than a day with their children. The idiots can't see the plasma TV is as cold and bereft as they.
 
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