"Traditions are solutions to problems that you don't know exist"
It goes hand in hand that roles might not be intended to be restrictive, but and efficient delegation of duties driven by the proclivities of the two sexes.
A funny annecdote was a family friend who grew up chaffing at what she felt was demeaning 'women's work' around the house and kitchen while the boys were out on the farm. One day, dad got sick of the complaining and so, starting the next morning she joined the boys. By noon, she was regretting it. 5 days later she realized that was she thought was horrible, was actually, for her, much nicer than the alternative.
Which goes into the concept of Chesterton's Fence. Simply put, when you come across a fence in your path, it behooves you to undertand why it exists before you tear it down. Becasue without understanding the reason, you can unleash all hell.
I haven’t heard “Chesterton’s Fence” in years. It really is the basis for common sense isn’t it? There’s not a lot of second-order thinking these days is there? I had to go looking for it, but here’s lines from a poem written on an image of the Great Wall of China (I was fortunate to get to visit and it was spectacular) that I had in my office long ago.
“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.”
— Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”
There’s always a Genghis Khan willing to breach the wall(s).
There's a phrase I love:
"Traditions are solutions to problems that you don't know exist"
It goes hand in hand that roles might not be intended to be restrictive, but and efficient delegation of duties driven by the proclivities of the two sexes.
A funny annecdote was a family friend who grew up chaffing at what she felt was demeaning 'women's work' around the house and kitchen while the boys were out on the farm. One day, dad got sick of the complaining and so, starting the next morning she joined the boys. By noon, she was regretting it. 5 days later she realized that was she thought was horrible, was actually, for her, much nicer than the alternative.
Which goes into the concept of Chesterton's Fence. Simply put, when you come across a fence in your path, it behooves you to undertand why it exists before you tear it down. Becasue without understanding the reason, you can unleash all hell.
I haven’t heard “Chesterton’s Fence” in years. It really is the basis for common sense isn’t it? There’s not a lot of second-order thinking these days is there? I had to go looking for it, but here’s lines from a poem written on an image of the Great Wall of China (I was fortunate to get to visit and it was spectacular) that I had in my office long ago.
“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.”
— Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”
There’s always a Genghis Khan willing to breach the wall(s).
Sage advice!