columella | He's a REAL man!

And you have to say that with the proper inflection. :) Today the times published and article about an article in Popular Mechanics. (amusing, that concept.) It was about the 25 Skills they say every man should know. Went over them with the husband and scored a 23 out of 25 - the only things he could not do was frame a wall and fillet a fish. It is an interesting list and apparently causing quite a discussion on their forums - as to whether it is the right 25 things.

Personally it has made me wonder - not about the husband (who I already knew could perform a great variety of tasks) but about what we *should* be able to do. In this day and age I believe our society has moved far away from do-it-yourself and into pay-someone-else and I wonder about that. Of course some of it is technology related as many things have become so complicated that it is difficult to do them yourself. But, couldn't someone still learn to change their own oil?? My father taught me how when I was a teenager and it sure saved me some money when I was struggling financially. These days I am happy to pay someone else to do it, but I would like E to know how to do it himself and how will that happen if we don't do it ourselves? Hmmm, thoughts to chew on.....