Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Nationwide Virtual Cat Fight

Wow, what a busy week it has been here at Blogdamnit headquarters. People are even calling me about all of the posts on here, not to mention the additional debating going on at happy hour. "To each his own" and "live and let live" seem to be the theme. Some think it is the god-given right for Southern Belles to live in their 1940's style of ignorance assuming those that don't live like they do are awful people and should git thy-self to church ASAP. The master manipulators that they are, they must be exhausted trying to make this world a better place while looking so darn perfect at the same time. I may just start a national "wear white shoes in October" day to drive them nuts. Pushing those Belle's buttons is irresistible!

All of this bickering made me think back to the all-women triathlon I finished this past summer. Let me first remind you of how hard a triathlon is to begin with. It takes about 2 hours to finish sprint distance if you train for it. I was shocked to see sooooo many women there on race day. There were bionic types to couch potatoes. Most were there to start this race and become an entirely different person when they finished. I was amazed at how supportive the female species was to each other. Women were helping and cheering each other on during the swim, and as I started out on the run I realized that most men would NEVER support each other this way. That's what's so great about women, we rally for each other. The "strength in numbers" theme of the labor unions is instinctual to us. The bionic women who finished the race in an hour looped back around to run with women who were struggling and needed some cheerleading. It was simply amazing. Those that finished the race cheered on all the women who were still going. Women also did this when I was violently ill during my pregnancy. They would discover why I had a vacant stare on my face due to the extensive nausea I suffered from and they would help, immediately. Puking in public is humiliating and I remember this lady, a complete stranger getting out of her car and bringing me a warm washcloth to clean up with. Women are nurturers in many, many ways. All of their actions an expression of themselves.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, there was more than one MAN in the cat fight, including this one, who still thinks the Southern Belle has a point.

FlyDi said...

so go to HER blog then!
pretty simple.

Flydi

Anonymous said...

The beauty of discourse, only in places like this it’s borderline cyber pulling hairs and bitch slapping. I think both are pulling punches, but let’s go back a few post and see that it was Southern Belle who threw the first salvo across the bow. So from there it’s fair game, only for one small detail, you are in FloDi’s house here. If it gets too hot, you don’t have to stay. So the fact that the comments keeps flying by still tell me that there is an interest, either in bickering or in trying to find a more altruistic outcome.

I will be blunt here, the different between Northern and Southern is that Southern women hold it all in because they have to always appear nice. Northern women in the other hand have to appear tough. In the end the same façade. In the inside both care about their children as much as the other, motherhood is universal, so neither are better. Your genes, what drives your instinct to care is universal. You both have it. But you simply do not understand each other. You both hide behind the need to protect your own vulnerabilities. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. The problem is that both project your realities to justify why the other is so wrong and different. So you are both wrong. You are both right. But you are both passionate about how you love your children that the position that life has thrown upon yourselves. One, a marketing person, the other one a chef. Hmmm. Both work hard, give everything with passion, both creative, both stubborn and explosive.

So ladies, embrace your differences and thank god that is what brings both of you together. Without the discourse, the exchange, it would be all nice, or your tough, instead we have a moment of exchange and a chance to see how the other one lives. And I believe it’s tough for both, so I bow my hat to the two of you. Even if you don’t kiss and make up.

L