Friday, October 17, 2008

I'm Sorry For Burdening You With My Blog


I'm curious, what was your reaction to this post's title? If you scoffed at the latent insecurities nestled in those words then Bravo! Is there an element that rings true, however? I read a fantastic blog post today by Erin at Single-ish with the title "Why Do Women Apologize So Much?" In it, she states that as women we are taught to be polite and generous. I agree and think those are great qualities but when did that blur into a compulsive habit to constantly apologize when it is not needed?

I think this nugget is only a piece of a bigger problem. Why is that men spend a majority of their lives being extremely selfish and get praised for it? Is it because society says that they are building in themselves a provider for their future families? That's one of my theories. Regardless of the reason, the facts remain...

Let's discuss. Do you think Mark feels bad that he performed better at the sales contest than his co-workers, even the ones who are his friends? Nope. Mark pats himself on the back and walks around basking in the congratulatory praise. Does Mark feel guilty when he blows off a date with Ann because he took a non-emotional view of the sitch and realized that there might be other (yes, maybe hotter or younger) women who would give him a chance? Doubtful. And he surely does not apologize for his changes of heart, mind, jobs or plans in order to better himself and his situation.

It's the old adage: I came, I saw, I conquered. Only a consummate man's man such as Caesar could have such a macho catch phrase. But what is so wrong with seeing something, wanting it, and doing everything in your power to achieve it? I think if we women combined some of this attitude with our inherent qualities (intuition) we could have everything we've ever wanted.

Veni, vidi, vici....I think I'd like mine engraved on a pretty gold charm bracelet.

1 comment:

MrsCNLee said...

I heard a quote once that said something along the lines of "Women are trained to be meek and mild because men fear us. They fear our tenacity, our ability to put others first. They fear our ability to handle pain in childbirth and our ability to bleed for a week and not die. Society teaches us to be meek and complacent because it's the only way men would be able to keep us down."