Easy Does It

I checked out this story the other day about this school in Denver that trotted out a lunch of fried chicken and collard greens in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. Of course folks got pissed, but there were other folks who couldn't seem to understand what the big fuss was about. Seems like folks couldn't agree on why the school would do something like this. They couldn't decide if it was racism or something more benign.

Then I checked out this blog by a woman who goes by the moniker Shay D. Lady. She asked a question about where sexism came from, and then traced it back to religion. Basically, she said that the story of Adam and Eve is what made men justify treating women as sexual objects and subordinates. Religion is at the root of sexism and objectification.

Some of y'all are wondering how those two anecdotes are connected. In both instances, folks were overlooking the obvious answer to their questions and going with something that was far more convoluted. Here's my thought on why a school would serve up chicken and greens to honor Dr. King, and why men treat women as sexual objects:

It's easier.

I know, that doesn't seem profound, but take a mental walk with me.

On the Dr. King issue it's obvious the school made that choice because it was easier. I mean, nobody would truly argue that Dr. King's legacy could be distilled into a two-piece with greens and macaroni, at least nobody with good sense. We all know that despite the recent attempts to water down into a corporate shill of the first order, anybody with a working knowledge of the man's rhetoric and actions knows he was far more than "I Have A Dream."

But, finding that out takes effort. And finding a way to distill the real life of Dr. King into something children can relate to takes even more effort. And well, that's a lot of effort for a three-day weekend. It's much simpler to just fry some chicken and call it a day. Get it?

Now where women are concerned, it's a bit more difficult. Yes, religion has played a role in reinforcing some people's biases, but those ideas would be there even without Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Men didn't need religion to treat women like objects, that's our default position.

Look, it's easier to view a woman as a the sum of her body parts than as a fully formed human with human emotions and needs. If she's just a collection of titties and ass, we know exactly how to deal with the problem. I'm not saying it's right, just saying it's easier.

Hell, that's one of the main issues with relationships. No matter how "evolved" a man may be, he still has a habit of objectifying women. We're trained in this art from birth, so it takes a while for us to shake the habit. (Women have bad habits too, but I won't go into those in this space.) Plus, men are constantly thinking about sex for a huge chunk of our lives. It's hard to switch off that part of our brain and start considering a woman's opinions and feelings. It's easier to just picture you naked.

It's easier. That's the problem with life. The easy choice is rarely the best one. I'm trying to get back to eating right so I can continue my weight loss, but eating cookies is easier. Sleeping late is easier than getting up at 6 a.m. and running in the cold. It's easier to curse than to watch my tongue. It's easier to pout when my wife pisses me off than it is to forgive her and love her.

Effing up is easy, doing the right thing is so much harder.







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