Women can't sew or cook anymore... or so it seems.

I went to Target to buy a certain kind of thread and the entire sewing section was about 3 feet by 3 feet if that. They didn't have a whole lot. I got curious and asked the woman in the aisle that was stocking a shelf what the deal was. Why such a small section?

The clerk had a pretty good sense of being able to read people and she read me by the look on my face.

She said dryly that although women didn't know how to darn a sock, they were pretty good at whipping out the plastic and buying another pair. Sounds about right in this day and age.

She reported to me that about 60% of the people that bought stuff off of that section looked like they were single men. I wasn't too surprised to hear that.

Interesting.

I'm on a first name basis with a couple of the deli clerks in the supermarket next to the Target. A while back we had a brief discussion about the number of women that feed their families straight out of the deli and prepared foods section.

He told me he was convinced there were a lot of women out there that couldn't even cook a basic meal.

This really doesn't surprise me a whole lot as I have seen a lot of things change over the last 63 years. The changes in American womanhood are one of these changes.

Still, I wonder about the future because it seems we are losing basic skills and becoming dependent on others to take care of us. 

Many men are no prize, either. There are a lot of guys out there that can't even change a tire and that's nothing less than a disgrace. There is nothing that I hold in contempt more than an incompetent male.

I suppose that there are changing roles in between the sexes for any number of reasons but there is no excuse whatsoever for not being able to cook a meal or sew up a torn jacket.

As I write this I just recalled that some of the best housekeepers I have ever met are co-workers on the boats and guys I have fished with. At sea there is a sort of rivalry between men as to who the best cook is. In addition to that, I have never seen anyone like a fisherman that can sew up a torn set of raingear so it won't leak.

Granted, the fisherman may be using dental floss for thread and shoe goo as a sealer but when he is done generally the job is a piece of art.

I suppose that as time passes we will keep getting more and more dependent on The Big Machine out there to take care of our basic needs.

While that may sound good to some, it is a double edged sword that can swing back on someone. When we get too dependent the providers then have us at their mercy and can likely get away with charging us what they want.

I suppose when that happens there might be a rebirth of people learning cooking skills but I don't see that one coming into play in the near future.





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY