Women, it seems, are bummed out these days.
A study released last month from the National Bureau of Economic Research and the University of Pennsylvania showed that even though men’s and women’s happiness levels have both gone down over the last few decades, women’s “subjective well-being” has declined “both absolutely and relatively to men.” The data came from a cross-section of ethnic and socioeconomic groups in several industrialized countries, and appeared to be big news primarily for one reason: When the same research was conducted in the 1970s, women reported higher levels of happiness than they do today.
Is that because feminism turned out to be a total dud? Or were women in the ’70s hypnotized into serenity by those yellow smiley faces? No one seems quite sure.
We all know the real reason for this. They aren’t reading enough Sarah Hey.
Helen Ready sang, “I am woman hear me roar”. Peggy Lee sang “I am a woman.” prior to that. There was a different kind of confidence with Peggy Lee’s song.
“Striving for better, oft we mar what’s well.”
– King Lear
#3. Jeffersonian,
Shakespeare knew how to use the English language better than perhaps anyone else. His writings are a great treasure.
#3 that’s going on my Facebook page – excellent!
Is it perhaps that feminism turned them into something other than the women that God had made them as?
Actually, the quote (for those who want to put it on Facebook, etc.) is “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.”
One poster writes: “Is it perhaps that feminism turned them into something other than the women that God had made them as?”
That’s one example of perhaps … then there is this one. “Perhaps God intended women to have what feminism attempted to give them … only to have a conservative mankind stand in the way of God’s plan.”
Of course … “perhaps” isn’t an answer … it reveals nothing more than the thoughts — hopes, dreams, fears? — of the person doing the supposing.
Ah yes … the great conservative hope … we all know that everything is better if everything forever remains the same … just as it did from the beginning of time until those horrible feminists began their evil campaign to corrupt the world. Yes, yes, yes … let us go back to a world where all is exactly as God intended it to be … where everything is just like it was before the 1960s … back to when the Episcopal Church was a real Church … back to a time when everyone was happy … back to a time when nothing changed … nothing I tell you … not even the English language.
Why that explains the way Chaucer just flows off the tongue. And if you are one of those rare people for whom Chaucer does flow off the tongue … then substitute Early English … which is a tad similar to reading a foreign language.
Of course, Shakespeare is a bit more current than Chaucer … and while his words may flow off the tongue … even his words are too oft misunderstood and taken out of context. “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.†That phrase standing alone can be applied in many ways … even to help explain what the reasserters are doing to the Church.
Of course in reality … everything is forever changing. There is no turning the clock back … keeping time still. As has been said since the time of Virgil … Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus. It’s one thing to learn from past mistakes … but it’s futile for one to spend his days hoping to recreate his past in the future.
No matter how much one may favor his past — or, more likely, another’s more glorious past — he’ll never get back there. Why waste time pining for something that is never to return?
[blockquote]Actually, the quote (for those who want to put it on Facebook, etc.) is “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.†[/blockquote]
Gah! Thanks…I was going from memory. It should be remembered, too, that it was said by Albany, not one of the good guys in [i]Lear[/i].
[blockquote]Ah yes … the great conservative hope … we all know that everything is better if everything forever remains the same [/blockquote]
Not true, not one single bit true. Much change is for the good, but there is also much change that is not yet we are force-fed it just the same. As CS Lewis once remarked (again from memory and paraphrasing), when one discovers that one has taken the wrong path, a true progressive will stop, turn around and go back.