Happy Memorial Day

Today I stepped back in time to 1950. Allentown is big on parades. The town will use any excuse to throw a parade. They're nothing big or over the top like Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They're much smaller, charming, and old-fashioned. Like the one today. Today is Memorial Day and much preparation was taken for the parade. The streets were shut down, spectators set up chairs up and down Main Street, saving their precious spots, children sold glasses of lemonade for a nickel, and neighbors conversed and caught up over brunch buffets set up in driveways.

I woke up ten minutes before the parade started and hurriedly got dressed so I could watch. I walked up to the bakery for a pastry and some coffee and had to weave my way in between people waving American flags and dressed in red, white, and blue. I felt as if I had traveled back to a much simpler time. There's something so nostalgic about the American flag, and waving it makes me feel so proud of our country. It's like American pride is stitched right in there with the stars and stripes. I'm the first to say America isn't perfect, but watching our veterans march in the parade today, I wouldn't be anywhere else. I guess I haven't watched a Memorial Day Parade in years because in today's parade, I noticed the veterans for the first time: veterans from bygone wars marching next to veterans from the current war. It was a sobering sight for sure. That, coupled with the old-time cars, clowns, and waving flags, had me clapping and waving along with the rest of the town, seemingly oblivious to the harshness of the world, cocooned in the perfect world of Main Street, Allentown, NJ, USA. I even caught Kurt smiling a few times. It was the perfect combination of charm, simplicity, and patriotism to remind us of the men and women who have fallen in the name of our country.

Could You Be a Little Weak?

I was reading Marie Claire the other day and stumbled across a short article about a new DVD in Japan called Crying Girls. I was intrigued. Why on earth would someone want to watch a DVD featuring girls crying as they recalled sad moments in their lives; breaking up with a boyfriend, being yelled at by a boss, etc. I read on. It turns out, this DVD is meant to exhibit the "vulnerability" of women to help certain Japanese men feel more masculine. The DVD claims that men will not be able to resist the women's tears and sexy voices as they cry inconsolably to the camera. Disgusting.

The article goes on to say that in recent years, Japanese women have been asserting more independence in their lives. They expect to be treated as equals instead of as second-class citizens. How dare they. I think it's an amazing thing that women all over the world are empowering themselves, standing up for themselves, and becoming independent of men. But in a society where submissive, quiet women have been the norm, this is a major shift. The article quotes Hiroshi Ueno, an associate social psychologist at Tokyo's Meiji University, who says, "...modern women want to be treated as equals, and some men can't handle that." These men, who are incapable of handling strong, self-assured women, feel so emasculated that they need to watch DVDs like this to feel better about themselves.

This article made me sick to my stomach and incredibly angry. I wonder where these self-help DVDs were for the women who were oppressed and kept down for thousands of years. To these emasculated men, I say, It's time to grow up and learn to accept that women are your equals, your peers, your friends, because if you can't handle strong women, there's no place in society for the likes of you. Women around the world are becoming stronger by the day, and we won't bow down to you anymore.