I am Woman..."I think??", Hear me ROAR

I had to go pee and it couldn’t wait.  I walked past the basketball court my son was practicing on and towards the glass doors leading out to the common area and the restrooms.  I opened the door and walked through only to realize a short haired middle-aged lady was walking towards the same door to enter the basketball courts.  I noted she was holding a large book that took both of her hands to hold.  I retreated towards the door to hold it for her and was greeted with a sarcastic, “I can get it.  I am just as capable as you.”  I’m sure the look on my face was a mixture of confusion and irritation, which probably prompted her hasty excuse.  She told me she was studying gender roles in her college class and needed only one more credit hour to “get her degree.”  I replied, “I was only trying to be nice…it has nothing to do with ‘gender roles’ and everything to do with ‘chivalry.’”  I think the lady sensed I was growing annoyed and tried to lighten the moment by stating, “The only real difference between men and women is that you stand up to pee and I have to sit down.”  Ugh!!!

Anyone who knows me also knows I usually don’t turn down an opportunity to argue, but I had to pee (standing up of course) and I didn’t have the normal burning desire to confront an ignorant liberal.  So I allowed the “liberated woman” to hold her own door, while clutching her large human sexuality book and I turned to walk towards the bathroom.  I remember she tried to utter a joke about something she wrote in a “paper”, but I couldn’t hear it; and quite honestly I didn’t care.  Needless to say, when I returned from the MENS bathroom I didn’t sit anywhere near her.  I couldn’t bear the thought of talking about the "myth of gender roles”.  I decided watching my son’s all male basketball team practice was a much better use of my time.

Thank you God my mother and wife were not, and are not, confused about their “roles.”  They seem to grasp the unique and invaluable differences they were created with simply because they are women.  I don’t want my father to be a lady and I don’t want my mom to be a man; and neither does God.  I don’t need a college text book or a short haired middle-aged woman to educate me on the value and truth of gender differences.