Am I a Pig ?

I want to start out by saying I grew up with three sisters, and my parents have been together for more than 30 years. I also want to make it clear that I have four amazing daughters, one active boy, and a beautiful wife. I was raised to show women the utmost respect. So if that's the case, why do I ask you the question, am I a chauvinistic pig?

Growing up I read books, watched movies, and heard stories all of which painted the picture of the great American housewife. You know what I'm talking about. The portrait of the men coming home after a long day at work and his wife having supper waiting at the table. The belief that a women's place was at home, and they had no place in the ”so called” mans world of the 20th century.

OK. So what am I getting at? Here it is. Did we benefit as a society from women's liberation into the workplace? The question seems unfair, uneducated, and even unethical. But hear me out. Women moving into the workplace had an unforeseen effect on the very fabric of our society, the family. How so? Women started to enjoy anything a man could, and rightfully so. The problem I see is this. If the men and women are working, who is watching the children? People tend to agree that the first few years of a child's life are the most important. So if it’s so, would we benefit more as a society in keeping women home to raise their family? How about the men staying home? I don't even care, but one of the parents need to stay home and raise the children. Not the television, not the Nintendo, not the daycare: the parents. Easier said then done, right?

Staying at home with the children is a thing of the past, and here is why. First, the family structure has broken down. The days of 50th wedding anniversaries are few and far between. The divorce rate is fifty percent. A coin flip. There are more and more single parents in society raising children. And if they are not raising their children, their parents are. Grandparents raising their children's children are becoming all too common in our society. Next, the capitalistic economy we live in has made living comfortably impossible, especially as a single parent. I'm not even sure how my wife and I do it. I guess paycheck to paycheck, just like the average American family. I love how we here these commercials that tell us to "go digital" or "buy a new car, zero money down!" Zero money down? Wait until they hit you with the interest. The amount of consumer goods and products bought with credit is staggering. And it doesn't help us when the price of everything always goes up like energy bills, gasoline prices, insurance payments, (what a scam) and our children’s tuition. Prices never go down. As a matter of fact, I think the only thing that doesn't go up or increase is minimum wage!

Not being able to stay at home and raise our children has destroyed our most precious resource as a country, the people. The innocence is lost. The information age is upon us and has played a major role in corrupting the youth through television, media, and the Internet. People no longer go outside and play. They stay inside. Being active consists of playing Madden football on Playstation for hours upon hours or surfing the web until they pass out. We have become lazy. Everything is too easy. You want something to eat, put it in the microwave. If you don't like that option there are other fast food alternatives, such as McDonald's. We've become impatient. Everything is a rush. So I ask you to veer off your daily path. Take a long cut instead of a short cut. Enjoy and cherish the time we have now, because who knows what tomorrow will bring (except higher gas prices).