It is high time to institute International Men’s Day, a day to bring our full attention to the many and varied contributions to the human species made by those with XY chromosomes. What a vastly under-valued and under-appreciated sub-group! On International Men’s Day we would extol the activities and accomplishments of world leaders, titans of business, football stars, Hollywood icons, college presidents, senators, governors, architects, NASA scientists, publishing executives, museum directors, high tech moguls. What accomplished people men have become! We would not forget the men of humbler stripes: coal miners, assembly line workers, burger flippers, road builders, construction workers—oh so many men, men everywhere you look!

What do we like about men? We like their can-do attitudes, the way they respond to the summons to act decisively, despite whatever suffering simmers around them. We admire men for their ability to populate the earth and milk its resources. Three cheers for men! We love the way men boldly pursue a buck unimpeded by trivial regulations. We love how they spread their seed wherever, whenever, without moral nit-picking. We admire men because they move on from setbacks, unscathed and undaunted, their emotional memories cauterized. We like men for their brawn (sometimes aided by guns, but not always!), their ability to scythe down any tree, any person, any idea that blocks their path. We like them for their booming voices, their fortitude in giving orders and explaining things they don’t understand. Hurray for men! What would we do without them!

How unfair it has been that women have a day every year devoted to them while men soldier on without a single day of appreciation. So let us proclaim one day a year as International Men’s Day, so men, at last, can get their due.

Photo credit: damocles2012 via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

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