Shuttle Bus Equality
Including me, six women got on the shuttle. It was the last stop before the bus left the airport terminals for the rental car depot. Every seat was taken. All six of us wrestled our luggage onto the bus and grabbed hold of the overhead rails. The driver hit the gas and the bus began to pitch and sway its way to its destination. It was then that I noticed the five men sitting comfortably on the seats facing us.
The men ranged in age from about 20 to 40 years old. Not one budged to help with our luggage. Not one offered his seat. They just sat there passively. The thought of taking some masculine initiative to serve us probably didn’t even cross their minds.
How drastically times have changed! If this was a scene out of my father’s generation instead of the new millenium, each one of those men would have jumped up, helped with the luggage, and offered a woman his seat. And if the youngest had hesitated, he would have been chided by the older ones to “be a man” and to treat the women present like ladies.
But alas… these modern men had been innundated with the philosophy that women are equal and should be treated the same as men.  So they had no qualms about letting us manage our own luggage and try to steady ourselves during the pitching movement while they passively sat by and watched us struggle.Â
I must admit that I felt a twinge of sadness and nostalgia about the whole scene. Because although I’m totally capable of moving my suitcase and standing on a bus, there’s something in me that enjoys receiving the initiatory strength of men. I don’t want men to treat me the same way they treat the guys. I want them to be men. And I want to be treated like a woman.
I think men are confused because of the women’s movement. They can’t figure out when to open a door or let women help themselves.I believe it has created a generation of complacent men who don’t care if a woman wants to be the leader, it just means less work for them. As good of leaders as women can be, very few are following. God had unity in mind when He created us ALL with our individual nature’s. Even if a woman is a better leader, a man still needs to do his part which may mean we have to get behind and push, not nag and belittle. (Five year olds with beards right?) Build him up, don’t knock him down. Encourage manliness, not equality (even if you can do it better).Woman are very powerful creatures, and that is exactly how they (we) were created. Their power however is being misused and abused. It’s sad, no wonder we have a population decline. Only women can have the babies and most would rather “be the man”.
I know many women, Christian and not, who would have been extremely offended if the men had done any such thing. Perhaps there is a little fault on both sides of the fence.
I’ll guess that some of the guys thought about giving up their seat, then thought again of the tongue lashing they might receive from the woman who demands her equality and derrides him for such an offensive act…so they did nothing.
We asked for it, we got it–speaking as a product of the women’s movement, circa 1970’s.
Gina
It seems quite obvious that there is a lack of respect on both sides of the fence here – one of the Girls Gone Wise series talks about “man-slayers”, women who put down and deride the men in their lives. If this is true, and I’ve noticed it among people I know, then it’s not surprising that there are many men who will not give up seats on a bus – or the subway – and there are fewer still who will open doors for a woman. It’s all because of how they were brought up, and I think a decline in a “traditional family” – one with a father, mother and children (and even sometimes grandparents) under one roof, with a parental partnership and unified viewpoint – is definitely to blame. How can you be a gentleman if there’s not been a positive male influence in your own life? How will you be a lady if your mother didn’t show you how to be one while you were growing up?
I personally don’t expect to be given a seat or have a door opened, because I am capable of opening my own doors and standing if necessary, or even if I don’t feel like sitting; but it is always nice (and quite appreciated!) to see a man being a gentleman.