narrow perceptions is everyone’s problem. me included. and honestly, it’s hard to move beyond that in the normal sphere of existence cuz we have to define our perceptions in order to function in society. what annoys me though is a person’s refusal to consider possibilites beyond what their perception prescribes. doesn’t anyone want to try? or do most people just prefer comfortable familiarity because anything else would upset their rigid balance?!
so basically i’m whining because mona lisa smile is on the telly now — i wiki’ed katherine watson — which led me to the flick’s imdb listing — which then lead me to read through the bullentin board section that was arguing the merits of choosing to be a housewife over getting a traditionally defined job.
1. just putting this out there: even after the kids have grown and flown the coop, there’re plenty of things to do for a housewife. i have an aunt who’s job title is housewife. without her support and energy spent “in the home”, her family situation (financially, emotionally, relationally) would not be what it is today. running a household is not just vacumning and washing the dishes. it’s dealing with all the idioscyncracies that affect a family, an entire family, in day-to-day life. when the car breaks down. when your kitchen pipes burst. when it’s time to supervise home improvement projects. it’s someone getting your back and handling all the minituae of daily home life so you can be the best you can be. assuming that a housewife need only cook and clean, and consequently diminishing the value of their potential, is assuming that running a home is itself simplistic. and that’s not always true because each family’s needs and wants are different. demeaning the role of housewife as intellectually irresponsible is intellectually irresponsible.
my mom and i both work at really draining jobs. she and i come home utterly deflated and lacking the energy to do much else. and there’s quite a bit of “much else” that needs to be picked up around my place. we don’t have someone as that backup. our weekends are swallowed up by things we couldn’t get done during the weekdays and occassionally we have to take work days off to do things that can’t be done on the weekends. my life really is what one could call “the daily grind.” it’s hard work. if i had someone doing the housewife bit for me, life would be so much easier and enjoyable. someone to actually cook dinner, clean the house, do the laundry, run errands for grandma — cuz guess what, i’m not a superhero and my energy allowance is limited.
there are definitely super-charged people out there who juggle home and work adeptly. that’s great. they do what makes them happy and fits their lifestyle. for those of us who operate on another frequency, a housewife is a full time job and it can be highly demanding even without having to raise kids. nothing to belitte at all.
2. one of the posts mentioned that adults who do not work at a traditional job to earn money is wasting their potential. way to discard the efforts and lives of all the women who lived in pre-women’s lib eras. women’s lib gave women the choice and not the obligation to join the workforce. not everyone defines the value of their life by how much money they can earn. not everyone’s priority is money.
3. following point 2 — who the hell decided that workforce potential is the only potential worth pursuing?! that somehow an adult in our society would be leading a useless, unfulfilled existence to life and society if they choose to stay at home in spite of not having kids to raise?! true we all need money to live a certain lifestyle and it is definitely irresponsible to shirk that duty if one’s situation requires it. but for those who have a choice…i think leading a happy life, whatever happy means to you, is the meaning of life. it’s what makes life worth living.
4. and oh yieah. staying at home does not mean one is disconnected from the world-at-large. i know plenty of people active in the workforce who know jack shit about the society they live in. your situation is as how you define it to be and how you choose to interact with your surroundings. loosing touch with reality can happen whatever the station in your life.