It may well be 2021, and we may well be long past the place and time when traditional male and female roles are required, or even appropriate. But…some behaviors are clearly in our chromosomes. It really is a matter of nature rather than nurture. I am reminded of this nearly every time DMc does the grocery shopping.
Oh, he comes home with everything on the list, or just a good selection of things to make meals from for the week. The thing is, though, he’s crap at checking for produce freshness, damaged packaging, and/or dates of any kind. Sell-by, Best-by, Use-by, Expired-a-week-ago. These numbers have no meaning to him. The first time he realized that I was checking the date on a bag of chopped salad mix and calculating how soon we’d have to eat it, he was genuinely shocked.
After a brief conversation (business analysis services come free when you’re married to me), I realized with a sinking feeling that my husband trusts the local grocery store to have our best interests at heart. You know, versus making a profit from whatever fool will pay full price for produce past its prime, or meat that they try to hide being old by “pre-seasoning” it and pretending it’s on sale instead of probably dangerous to eat.
Oof.
That right there is why men have historically been dedicated to bringing fresh protein via hunting or fishing back to the tribe, and women are the ones who engage in the far more delicate work of identifying healthy food options whilst assiduously avoiding poison mushrooms.
The Gatherers: Cynicism. Suspicion. Mistrust. Keeping us alive as a race for the long-haul.