Sat 3-21-2009 I Can’t Just Gather, I Need to Hunt!

Sat 3-21-2009 I Can’t Just Gather, I Need to Hunt!

I met quite a few stay-at-home dads at my cousin’s house recently and I think it’s a noble, difficult thing to do. I’m not sure I could do it. Many people think that being in the workplace is just about a paycheck, but in reality it has as much to do with your sense of personal identity and sense of self worth as it does with money. Friendships form at work and you are known as much by the work you do as by any other characteristic people would use to describe you.
Those who have won the lottery find this out when they realize that all their friends are still going to work every day and they feel weird, alienated and out of the loop. At the same time that these friends of theirs are envying their wealth, they may be envying the worker for having the same feelings of belonging that they no longer possess. They aren’t in the same situation as their friends anymore.
This sense of dislocation has nothing to do with the money they used to make at their old job. They no longer know who they are, where they belong or who their true friends really are. The same is also true f the modern day househusband or hausmeister as my German peeps might say. As much as stay-at-home dads can adjust to their new role over time, it still seems to go against the grain of the life they had known up to that point. They were the hunter who went out with confidence and determination to gather goods and services for their families with whatever skills they have developed over the years.
Now the man in the household is picking berries by the roadside while the Mrs. is wielding a machete in the urban jungle. She’s hacking a trail to find new sources of food, water, clothing and shelter while the hubby tends the home fires and she fends off the attentions of horny male co-workers.
All of this becomes a huge disconnect from the way things were. I think the idea of a huntress out in the jungle is a pretty exciting thing. She bares her teeth and claws during the workday, scrapping and scraping. At night, she goes home to snuggle with the cubs and takes turns protecting the den from intruders and outsiders. For guys, the female cop, the lady construction worker or a cute, feminine delivery driver is a huge thumbs-up. A good looking girl in typically male roles is intriguing indeed. Like the bikini-clad, tanned beauty wielding a machine gun, pinup style!