oh MY goodness! May 20
As I was pulling into the Schnuck's parking lot this morning, I thought: "Oh how wonderful~Schnuck's has a close parking place reserved for new and expectant mothers." I pulled down the row where I saw that place and was just about to pull into the parking place when someone pulls into it. Not just any someone. A man! A man with a car seat in his back seat (no child in it) and a wedding ring on his left hand. I say that because most probably he knows what it is to have a pregnant wife. True: it was not a crowded place this morning nor was it a big deal for me to go all the way down the row and swing back around the other row to park in the other place reserved for new and expectant mothers. I didn't but I could have. I did, however, approach the man and said to him: "Sir, you sure do not look like you are expecting a baby!" I figured those words and my very 8-month pregnant self would get the point across.
I'll stop now...just had to share with my world of readers this experience that definitely deserves an: "oh MY goodness!"
Add your comment
7 Comments
no way! my goodness indeed. chivalry is on its deathbed indeed. i don't think i could've resisted saying something either. you go, girl. i'll tell you my pottery barn adventure sometime soon that has kind of a similar ring to it.
you are a very brave girl! i would have wanted to say something, but not had the guts to do it!
Laurin, I couldn't help but laugh-- only because I was so proud of you for saying something so whitty! Remember "You've Got Mail" and the whole concept of a "zinger"- you zinged him. :) I can't believe his obvious rudeness, but I really enjoyed reading your take. :) (you look so cute in the picture you posted yesterday- adorable!)
good for you for saying something! what did he say back?
oh my gosh, laurie beth, you make me laugh!!!!!!!
I guess these days I look at everything from a different perspective.Don't know if this is good or bad. The fact that a grocery store had a sign for a pregnant woman blows my mind right now. While this rude man was wrong for taking that space It just doesn't seem like that big a deal for me anymore. I know that the majority of men in America would not do this. Let me explain, I would much rather be having this baby in the comfort and conveniences of America. Along with America I know there are still men who open doors for women, who move out of the way for a women. If this happens once in only a month for you be thankful. My eyes have really been opened to a different world and culture. Men here have never seen or heard how to be kind or considerate to a woman. Opening a door for someone is unheard of, stepping off of the sidewalk(or lack there of) for a pregnant woman is not known. It is an every man/woman for themselves world. Just to go to the grocery store by driving myself is a privilege I took for granted. To be able to wear shorts in the hundred degree heat. To step outside my apartment and not get stared at by hundreds of men would be a blessing. To go anywhere and not be looked at provocatively or just staring so hard you think there going to burn a whole in you. No, I think American (southern) men are still chivalrous and my eyes have been opened to that in so many new ways. Sorry to be so long and don't mean to take over your blog.
good point! our culture definitely only knows a glimpse of the degradation of women. we experience a freedom that some cultures will never know. if we're going to speak purely on the matter of the specific case though....if this man knowingly parked his car in that spot, then chivalry was lost on him. possibly it was an honest mistake. i suppose our culture knows a more sophisticated version of female degradation. it is more in the way of a dismissal of femininity (by women themselves as well as by men), role reversal, male passivity and abdication, and the free exchange of sex outside the covenant of marriage, etc...
we see our culture depart from the God given paradigm in many ways. and on the obvious level, there are plenty of women out there experiencing the horrors of domestic violence, etc...even though america is "civilized" in so many other ways as a general rule, we can't ignore the reality of how far it has fallen. we've just gotten good at using euphemisms to describe our sinfulness.
i am glad that that we can still experience (at least in our own home, we pray) the acts of the chivalrous man we admire and that we can somehow resemble (at least in part) the original Design. i know that more than once a stranger has made this type of comment to my husband when they see him open my car door for me: "you just don't see that anymore, good for you." once the comment was made by a friend who said, "whoa! that only happened when we were dating. not anymore." so yeh, chivalry is dying in places, but not in others. i imagine the masogynist attitude isn't quite as healthy as it once was in the 50's though, thank goodness. seems like there was a time when women were expected to be nothing but gossips without intellects. in the end i guess generalizations usually aren't really that general after all. too many variables. ok sorry to ramble.
Leave a Reply