Dear Dudes and People With Father Issues:
Come on over and we’ll talk a little about the astrological symbolism of Father’s Day. Bring beer.
***
Traditionally in astrology, the concepts of “male and female” (or “Dad and Mom”) are usually associated with, respectively, the Sun and the Moon. What’s interesting about this Father’s Day is that the Sun receives no strong major aspects from any of the other planets until later in the day, when an opposition to the Moon kicks in. This got me to thinking about our society’s ideas about parenting, and changing gender roles, and —
Whoa, sit back down there, buddy. This is me. I’m not about to repeat that lecture your college girlfriend gave you about what she learned in Gender Studies class, when you sat there glassy-eyed and nodded politely in hopes that you’d get some later.
In many ways, I’m kind of a classic Old School Guy. I think The Three Stooges are hilarious, that Sunny Leone is gorgeous, and that sometimes the best thing about a hockey game is the fighting. And although gender roles and such are changing, this is not an attack. No one is really attempting to sever your ‘nads, dude. I just think it’s time for us to address how men in general can handle the current state of gender relations out there. And if there’s one thing I think men excel at? It’s the ability to recognize that something is on fire or attacking us, and the ability to damned well do something about it before we lose the whole village.
Many of us had less than ideal fathers. Many of us have been less than ideal fathers. So, I’m thinking, maybe we all need some kind of amnesty around the whole subject. And we should not waste that amnesty — we should address our role as men. We should face the consequences of our place at the top of the cultural food chain for the last few thousand years and ask ourselves if we can do better.
Like that Gillette ad said a few months ago that drew such weird outrage from some of the more dude-centric corners of the Internet: is this really the best a man can get?
You’ll note that I started this blog entry with “Dudes and People With Father Issues.” For those of you with said issues who are not “men”? On behalf of Men In General, I gently ask your forgiveness. Overall, I like to think that men try to do their best, and they want the best for their children. May we improve, for the sake of all our futures.
Now, let’s crack open another beer and figure out how we can do better, for everyone’s sake.
Happy Father’s Day.
Yours in Elevated Dude-ness,
Matthew
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