Men & Their Tools

My friend Laura wrote me and asked:
"Here's a question for you...Why are there so many men who don't know how to fix things, anymore? It drives me to insanity when I know more about tools than a guy."

I'm kind of pressed for time, so I can't go into an indepth answer here, but I'll rattle off a few points quick:

1. Most men don't use tools in their daily lives anymore. Men used to be the mechanics and the farmers and other burly jobs, and so they used tools everyday. But as time goes on, those fields become more specialized, and men aren't able or aren't willing to to invest the time to understand them anymore. Instead, the tools of modern man are the computer, the cellphone, the remote control, the gas grill...
2. Because more men work in offices, away from home, boys growing up spend more time with their mothers, and less time learning to use tools from their fathers. It's hard to learn how to use a tool, and the primary system that men used to have to learn them was from the older men in their lives. But those older men aren't around to teach now.
3. There's been a systematic and persistant effort from society in general to beat the masculine traits out of boys. It's a masculine trait to be interested in, and drawn to tools, and toys, and the implements of creation and destruction. But we've become scared of those manly tendencies, and we try to get boys to unlearn them in the name of civility.

That's my guess for now. I'm tired, and I already took my Trileptal, so I'm starting to get foggy, so if I sound out-of-it, I am. Good night kids. It's bedtime for Bonzo.