cf. brake

"Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune. ... Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm." - President Barack Obama, Inauguration Speech, January 21, 2013 Today, let us take a moment to remember the lives we were unable to protect. Those lives whose end was neither natural nor accidental. Let us think upon those never allowed to fill their lungs with air. And let us think upon those who have bought the lie that this is "choice." Let us, in silent vigil, remember the one out of every four children [1]   and the millions of woman left with empty arms. But, let this moment be brief. For, as President Obama has exhorted us, there is work to be done. Let us turn our at...

There's an old saying, "Remember when men were men?" It may not feel that old, but it harkens back to a day well before my generation stepped foot on this earth. A time we fondly look back on as too "chivalric" and laugh at as being unrefined and uneducated. A time of inequality, even inhumanity. Today, the simple act of opening a door so that a woman might pass through first, or walking her home simply to make sure she arrives safely is scoffed at. On a deeper level, we have told men they are overly-violent, sexually-driven vagabonds who cannot be trusted with responsibility. In short, we make the claim that men are irrelevant to society, denuding them of parental and spousal responsibility - making the claim that the burden they should have been carrying is best suited to be born by women. All this we know. All this has been coalesced into a singular societal expectation, where, when we hear of a man who stands by his family for a lifetime, he is l...