Heavy Things

Heavy Things

I once got an email that listed all the things men and women are good at, starting with women. Perhaps you’ve seen it. The list was long and impressive. It then proceeded to list the things men are good at, and it just said:

Lifting heavy objects

It got me thinking. While there may have been some omissions, that one really contains more than the author thought. M en are good at lifting heavy things. Things like these:

Trees a hundred feet tall and tons of stone to build the house for our family.

Coal from hundreds of feet below ground to heat the house so our family will be warm.

Iron to build railroads and ships to carry our families around the world.

Bridges to allow our families to cross great rivers just by walking.

Millions of tons of dirt and concrete to build dams so our families will always have water and light.

And things even heavier

The risks in finding new places to live.

The risk of harm to themselves so their families will not be at risk.

The dangers of trying new inventions.

Bodies from burned buildings.

The knowledge that without their labors, their families will be cold and hungry.

The knowledge that if they do not place themselves in harm's way every day no families will be safe.

Their fallen comrades in arms home to the mothers, wives and children they gladly died to protect.

Men have died digging coal and metal or from the diseases the work gave them. They have fallen from the tops of the trees and bridges, onto hand grenades, from high in the sky, and deep into the sea. They have drowned in tunnels and machines. They have died standing on the street simply because they wore the uniforms of the protectors. They have died because they rushed in where they were needed and where all others were rushing out. They have died simply because they tried to make the world better, safer, faster for their families. Sometimes for an idea that would change the world, sometimes only trying to earn enough money to feed his children for another week.

In recent decades women have begun to share and understand the burdens men have taken on their shoulders for a long time. Men should welcome the help. Women, join us in the coal mines, test pilot's seats, burning buildings, on the high voltage power lines covered with ice and the battlefields covered with pieces of your friends.

Men, your shoulders are wide and strong and you hearts large for a reason. They exist to provide for and protect those weaker than you. Never forget the strength of your grandfathers, and be strong as they were.

For millennia, good men have carried the heaviest thing in the universe: responsibly for those weaker than themselves- their wives, children, older kin.

Yes, men are very good at lifting heavy things. We've had a lot of exercise.