Man and Woman: Take Two

A car cut right in front of ours and my driver slammed on the brakes. He muttered, “Women drivers!”

I looked at the other car's driver and sure enough, it was a woman. “How did you know?”

My driver replied, “Nobody cuts like a woman does.”

Another day my driver was looking for a parking space. But our path was blocked by a heavily-tinted car that was taking a mighty long time to park—reverse, forward, reverse, forward. 

“Women drivers!” my driver muttered again. After a few more minutes, the car was finally parked and out came the driver—she sure was a woman.

There were many, many more instances when I heard my driver say the same words in varying degrees of muttering and tsk-tsking, “Women drivers.”

“I think I may be tired of hearing you make sexist remarks,” I said one day, smiling to take the tart off my words.  He is, after all, my husband.

“That isn't sexist, that's a fact,” he shrugged. 

I notice no such fact. For me, men and women drivers are the same: they talk to themselves; they make a running commentary about other drivers on the road; they feel everyone is wrong and they are right; they spew occasional expletives; and when I am in the front seat, they both make me feel edgy.

Driving is about the only similarity men and women have. In all other aspects they are different.

They were created by God at different times, in different ways. As one goes through the Bible, one finds that a woman's role, traits, and physical make-up had always been different from a man's. (Modern beings will argue, 'Those were ancient times!') 

Then came the woman's liberation movement and gender laws that now try to put man and woman in the same mold and rung: same rights, same responsibilities, same pay, same everything.

I have no opinion on the matter.

All I know is I thoroughly enjoyed the perks of being a woman in my time: Gentlemen offered ladies their coats and seats; they stood up when a lady entered a room; they refrained from cursing when a lady was around; they visited her at home and met her parents; they stayed on the danger side of the road; they cared about her reputation; and oh-so-many lovely things that no longer exist today.

I am no feminist (this could spark another spike in my blog hits, as did my controversial post on AIDS). I believe that man and woman have each been beautifully created in God's own way. Only one has been gifted with a womb; they can never be the same.

Man and woman: grace sans gender.

Photo: colourbox.com