Men care more about Nature than Women do

" I think that love of Nature depends on the individual person, and that it has nothing to do with sex, race or religion".

 

These word were spoken by my uncle Jack, and now he has been brandished as a sexist by the local liberals (or the cat lovers and tea drinkers as he refers to them - quite wrongly as some of them seems to love nothing at all).

 

You might not know my uncle Jack, although a lot of people do. He is not unintelligent, but he has never learned to be politically correct. He speaks his mind without thinking. And it is incredible what the human brain can come up with, if you are not careful. The broad-minded community of our small town calls him narrow-minded. (He, rather naively, claims that broad-minded people can't be broad-minded, if they call other people narrow-minded).

 

What happened was this: There was an article in the local newspaper. It was about women. One claim was, that women care more about Nature than men do.

 

That was what he reacted to. He wrote a letter to the editor, and that's where he wrote the fatal sentence already quoted above: "I think that love of Nature depends on the individual person, and that it has nothing to do with sex, race or religion".

 

And now he is being accused of accusing women of being racists and that therefore he is a sexist!

 

I confronted him about the commotion caused by his unfortunate comment. "Well" he said, "its nothing. Think about what would have happened, if I had written "Men care more about Nature than women do." 

 

Quite honestly, I do not dare think about it.
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PS. Many years ago (1975) a saw a Danish film "Ta' det som en mand, frue" (Take it like a Man, Madam!). It reversed the roles of men and women in an office environment. Quite revealing when you had women behave like men and men like women. And quite chocking to hear the kind of remarks usually uttered by men about women in the mouth of women, and about men. Much has happened since then. Maybe it will soon be time to make the version Take it like a Woman, Man! Sometimes I now do the "sex reversal test" to see how female comments on the male sex would sound if the gender was changed. You should try it. It seems that women can get away with saying things about men that men cannot say about women.

People don't Think - and when they do .....

Worried about making a fool of yourself?

Dressing to go out. Should I wear a tie? What if all the others don't? What will they think of me?

 

Was that a stupid remark the one I made about the football match last Saturday? Should my car have been another colour - is it like showing off too much?

 

Well, don't worry. At least not, if you are of a certain age.

 

Some time ago, listening to the radio, I heard an elderly man being asked how important it was to him, what other people thought of him.

 

"Less and less with age", he replied. "With age I have come to realise two things. a) People don't think, and b) when they do, they don't think of you."

A Birthday Forgotten

The young are not what they used to be, when I was young. They lack the stamina that my generation has. Take bicycling, for example. My son in law, who is generally very sporty, recently bought a race bicycle. He first had to learn to bicycle. As a small kid he was always brought to school by car, and as he grew older the bus was his means of transportation. The city where he lived was not considered safe for children to cycle in.

 

He started training on his new bicycle. Not very impressive, if you ask me.

 

One day we were having a family dinner. He was talking about his progress in the art of cycling. "Today I even overtook another cyclist", he said. "Come on" he had shouted as he passed, "you can go faster than that".

 

"What was the reaction?", I wanted to know.

 

There was no reaction, he told me.

 

Then I made a very funny remark: "Maybe she didn't hear you. Maybe she hadn't turned on her hearing aid."

 

I noticed that he wasn't laughing. Not only do the young lack stamina, they also lack humour. And that's not all. Their memories are not as good as ours. I never miss an opportunity to mention the date of my birthday, but this year he had forgotten it, so I got one present less than expected.

The Stationary Voyager

A man comes on the radio. ‘Good Morning’ he says, ‘and welcome to another glorious summer’s day’.

 

 

 I have just put the kids to bed and sat down to enjoy a glass of wine and listen to a bit of radio before going to bed.

 

 

According to the man on the radio traffic is still dense, but the morning rush is easing a bit. And it is going to be fabulous day with bright sunshine and temperatures well into the eighties. I don’t know how hot that is, I am used to the Celsius degrees, but it sounds nice. The start of a new day with all its promises and possibilities. A commercial advertises new car tyres (or should it be tires). Pay for three, get four.

 

 

An offer you can’t refuse – unless you would have to take your car half way round the world. I am sitting in Europe, and I am listening to a local Californian radio station on the Internet. It is early evening. Rain is predicted for the next four days. I had great plans for the day, but most of them have been repostponed till tomorrow.

 

 

Tonight I have listened radio stations in Greece, Italy, France and the US. A great way to keep your language skills going. And a great way for the stationary voyager to move round the world.

 

 

Good night – or good morning, as the case may be. A new day is about to begin – or end.

 

 

With a Knife in his Hand

Being a Scandinavian, I have often been asked questions about the Social Democrats. What are the differences between Socialists and Social Democrats? Of course, there are many differences and both movements have changed over time. I usually point out two differences.

 

Unlike the Socialists, the Social Democrats do not nationalise industries and in general do not/did not interfere with free enterprise (for example, minimum wages are not fixed by the government but by the collective bargaining of the labour market parties). Business was left to do what business is best at: making money. The government did what it was best at: taking as much of the money as possible and spending it (redistribution). This model seemed to work well in the creation of the modern Welfare State.

 

The other difference is of a more historical nature. Social Democrats were not revolutionaries. Change was to be brought about by democratic means. Power was to be won in elections. Social Democrats became part of the establishment and the ruling class. Corpulence was a mark of success. As humour had it back in time:

 

If you see a Social Democrat with a knife in his hand, you can be sure that in his other hand he has a fork.

Motherly Care and Motherly Concern

It was back in the early 60s. I was twelve years old. Looking forward very much to the next day. I was going on a school excursion to Copenhagen. We had to suffer two museums – I suppose in order to justify the expense of a special train for the whole school – but the reward would be an evening at the amusement park Tivoli Gardens. The rides were wild (according to the standards of that time), and my mother apparently was a bit worried.

 

“Be sure to wear clean underwear”, she said. “I have put some on your bed. You never know what can happen at a place like that. What if you have an accident and are taken to hospital. Imagine what a shame it would be, if your underpants were dirty.”

 

I admit that I wondered a bit about her priorities. The shame that would follow from wearing dirty underwear seemed to be rated as a greater disaster than a broken leg or a cracked skull.

 

“And be sure to put your undershirt on the right way”, she added. “Don’t get the front and the back mixed up. What if they have to operate on you and turn you the wrong side up?”.

I looked at her. I’m not sure whether there was a glint in her eyes or not.