Real Men Don't

Saying for the day: A woman wears her tears like jewelry. ~Author Unknown

The New Hampshire election taught me one thing for sure. The old double standard is still alive and kicking.
Some time ago now a man lost his bid for the Presidency because he cried in public. At least that’s what the experts said. In New Hampshire Senator Clinton won because she cried. That’s what the experts said.
So the old double standard is still there. Real men don’t cry and real woman are expected to.
I learned this when I was a little kid and my father said” John, real men don’t cry.” He always said that when I was crying. That was just before he said “ If you don’t stop crying I will give you something to cry for” . As if I didn’t have enough to cry for already.
So I learned that real men, particularly real Scandinavian men don’t cry or show much emotion as far as that goes. I grew up keeping it all bottled up inside.
Then I went to college and I was told that those days were over. That it was good for men to cry. That emotion was a good thing. I should even say I love you to the people I love. I don’t remember my father ever doing that. So I tried to shift. I learned to be more open. It was a new world and things were different. Sometimes I even cried in the pulpit at the funerals of close friends.
But now I see that my teacher may have been wrong. New Hampshire has taught me that America still has different expectations for men and woman. Senator Clinton could becomes the first President to cry her way into the Whitehouse.
But it is okay for me to cry because I’m not running for President.

#### News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal. Well Tommy TW did not make it onto the Letterman show last night. He was in the guest room waiting to go on but the show ran late and he got bumped. They have invited him back on Friday so he and Nancy get to spend two more days in New York. That is good for them but not so good for Pigeon Falls. The young lady that is running Nancy’s coffee shop while she is gone makes passable coffee but her saffron buns leave much to be desired. People are even buying cinnamon rolls instead.
Petrovich did read driblet 187 and his interpretation of it from the gazebo last night. He handed out printed copies as well. It reads as follows:
In the town of the birds the man who does not sleep( insomniac) tosses sleeplessly in his bed.
Another who drinks far too much rises with a terrible hangover.
They fretter away their health.
Each tries something called Ty Linn Hol ( Tylenol) as therapy but it helps not.
A hubby ( the Russian here is hard to translate but more personal then husband) upset by a moving picture ( film) cries “ Woah! PBS” over and over.
A man who must have something called Gawpo to survive( a Gawpo Junkie) berates somebody called Bush as a dummy because he is keeping him from his Gawpo.
Everything now grows clearer and clearer ( it is enhanced) as the dream goes on.
Now all these people and many more become FANATIC. They scream. It hurts my ears. They run around. It is horrible.
I see a nation called China offering to help but the Bush person refuses. He sees evil people sending terror.
Now people are crying. Sickness comes from the sky. It is horrible. I can not take it.
Such suffering. There is no hope,
But a light comes. A chance to stop it all.
A child carries the light. Look to the child. Look to the child.
I can take no more.
I must awaken.
Here the driblet ends.

Petrovich’s translation.
This year as it is the last year of George Bush’s presidency a great plague will come upon Pigeon Falls. It will cause great sickness and much crying. It will cause a PBS special to be shown which is very upsetting to the town.
As things get worse China will offer to send medicine but the President will turn them down. The President feels that terrorists are behind this plague.
In some way the plague is air borne.
I do not yet understand the part of the child except that it is important to the survival of the town. This will happen in 2008.
*******

Today's Link-Momma Mia, Mea Culpa- A very long but very interesting post.
It was a rough breathing day. weird since yesterday was so good. In the morning Betty and I got the packages that I sold on eBay yesterday and that got paid for. Then she took them to the Post Office. In the afternoon I tried to get some Auto insurance quotes from the net. Then I worked downstairs getting to more items ready to post. I then posted them. Now I really need a breathing treatment.
GBYA