Just Two Kinds of Americans

In my viewpoint, there are just two kinds of Americans. Envision a triangle with the top being of two subjects only. Man sharing the top with Women. Under this we have the hyphen-added folks such as Africans, Latinos, seniors, Gays, etc. The rest of the triangle is made up of American citizens who don't know or care about any of this and don't vote anyway. If we can just stay at the top of the triangle, many of our problems can be debated, compromised, and put to rest.

I am not a feminist and believe the NOW group has done nothing but pour fuel on an already difficult fight that has gone on for centuries. The earliest Greek dramas carry the same message that a brave female stood up to a group of men and stated clearly, if not in many languages "sorry fellas--we're not buying this anymore." Of course the part of this brave woman was played by a man so no one took it seriously.

I read a lot of history books and I have developed a deep respect for the women all over the world, who were uneducated and unskilled still carried on at home when their husbands, brothers and older sons were called into duty to fight for their country. I was a teenager during World War 2 and can remember the gals left at home trading food and gas coupons from time to time to cook something nice for a grieving friend or give them a couple of extra gas coupons for a visit with the rest of their families. No color, race or religion ever interfered. In this respect women are far more flexible. I recognize this wonderful feature in women from my viewpoint in California and feel certain it was the same all over the country, if not all over the world.

When the war was over, many women stepped back gladly into their kitchens and continued on as they had before. Many others found the returning warriors changed mentally and physically by the experience of seeing how cruel and unjust the wars can be. By unjust, I mean fighting for a piece of foreign soil only to see it handed back after losing thousands of American lives. These men returned to find their wives on an assembly line or returning to their nursing professions and they were furious! I have heard many times that the women made no real contributions to the war effort. This is said by men who also claim that this was the onset of the women declaring their independence, which in the eyes of most men is evil, evil, evil!

America did not experience enough time for healing after "the war to end all wars" when we were thrown into Korea and then Vietnam. In my observation I saw the mothers and grandmothers taking a good solid look at how their girl children were being raised. We were insisting that our daughter's be given equal educations in all levels of schools.

Birth control pills were developed at this time and many of us were relieved to be able to send our girls to college knowing they were safe from having to get married. Oh, shame, shame, shame!

The drugs that suddenly were so popular began to do their damage to our society as well as the old alcohol getting its teeth into the American family home. Domestic Violence became the Saturday night game of choice. Child abuse including incest became openly discussed on television shows and somehow became acceptable behavior.

All of a sudden it all fell apart! Our civilized citizens were tired of out-of-control behavior at home and in the classrooms of their kids. Who took the hit? The women, of course!

The men sat around in poolrooms, clubs, and even in churches searching for the reasons their comfortable worlds were falling apart. It had to be their wives and all the other loose cannons called females inhabiting their world. Timing couldn't have been worse for Betty Freidan and the National Organization of Women to introduce their plan for world domination!

I started searching around to find the source of why men disliked their women and, voila! I found it! The literature of Judeo/Christian history calls out many instances where the women were too unworthy and unclean to enter the religious houses of worship. Eve was even put on earth to tempt Adam---you all know the story---. This is still the feeling of many churches today.

Wow, I sat my daughters down one weekend and explained to them to never buy into this crap! I believe I even used the term bullshit. In the course of their lives any man who even sounded like they belonged in this category should be shown the door, and fast!

This has become a top priority in my own world of social gathering and I make a point of staying away from any faith-based group. To prove my point just read any discussion forum and watch what happens when the subject of birth control or abortion is mentioned. Any woman who does this had better have a cast iron stomach and try hard not to throw the verbal stones back.

The longer I live, the more I am convinced that the Religious Right must stay out of politics and if they don't, all women should prepare themselves for the possibility of living as second class citizens.