AwoMEN!

“Why Mom and Dad? Why do you say ‘Amen’ at the end of the prayer?”

The question came from 8-year-old Isaac Romer of Lorena early this spring.

In response to Isaac’s question, Dad (the Telegram’s Paul Romer Jr.) offered this explanation: “It’s what you say when you agree with what was said in the prayer.”

But Isaac wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to know what people said when they disagreed.

His parents couldn’t answer. There was an awkward silence, Mrs. Romer said, until one of the other three children changed the subject.

Silent for the remainder of the evening, Isaac’s brain was still pondering the subject. The conclusion he came to was this: “Awomen.”

“To him, it made perfect sense,” Mrs. Romer said. “The opposite of men is women.”

Isaac clearly remembers when and why he started asking questions about “Amen.”

“My sister prayed that I would start liking Barbies,” Isaac said. “And I don’t.”

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Come Sept. 21, Isaac’s “Awomen” solution will be the subject of a Pickles comic strip.

How that came to be is the result of some coincidence, a blog and Granddad.

The blog belongs to Romer Jr., a lover of words and professional writer. He logs his family’s accomplishments, discusses his views on religion and life and shares funny stories and memories.

The coincidence is that Granddad (Paul Romer Sr. of California) is a childhood friend of Brian Crane of Nevada, the creator of the nationally syndicated Pickles comic series. (Romer Sr. was unavailable to comment because he’s on vacation.)

“We lost track of each other,” Crane said. “But we knew each other from kindergarten to middle school.”

The comic strip artist sought to re-enter Romer Sr.’s life after stumbling across Romer Jr.’s blog.

“I do routine Internet searches on my name and Pickles to determine if there’s been any illegal use,” Crane said. “I found that my name mentioned in (Romer Jr.’s blog).”

In one of the entries, Romer Jr. had shared a story about how the senior Romer and Crane “used to make hand shadows on the wall when they were kids.”

“That made me want to call (Romer Sr.),” Crane said. “So I emailed (Romer Jr.) and asked him for his dad’s current contact information.”

During Crane’s attempt to get in touch with Romer Sr., he became a semi-regular reader of the junior Romer’s blog, which is where, of course, a full account of the “Awomen” conversation is located.

“I asked the family for permission to use it as an idea for my comic strip, and they agreed,” Crane said. “With 365 strips a year, I’m always looking for ideas. You name it, and I look there. The Internet, conversations, sidewalks - they’re all places for ideas.”

(http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/09/14/52277/)

This is a perfect example of how technology has contributed significantly to, and enlarged the means of communication, as well as broken the molds of traditional two person face to face interaction.

Thanks to the internet, people can now not only communicate across borders but at the comfort of their homes. Old friends can now get in touch with each other at such convenience. The amount of information available on the internet is limitless and effortless-just a few clicks a way.

Isn't it just amazing how through sheer coincidence one can get inspired?

I never cease to be enlightened and pleasantly surprised by the things/ information I learn from the internet.

For instance, from the article, it struck me how at such a young age children are already wary of gender differences, the different feelings, likes and dislikes that are associated with people of the opposite gender.

“The opposite of men is women.” Although it seems innocent enough, I find that it is a strong statement coming from an 8 year old!

Why is it that we have such preconceived, one sided views? Are we conditioned to think this was by our parents?Friends?Society?

Is it wrong to have such a perception?Because in reality, the gender imbalance is present whether we like it or not.

Recently, we were given an article to read for English class title "Gender Blur" by Deborah Blum. In her article, she raised many interesting points of discussion as well as facts that really intrigued me.

Firstly, the fact that early differences in childhood shape the adults that we become. The writer's parents gave her both a Barbie doll as well as a softball to offer her different opportunities to develop.

Some parents recognize the importance of not shortchanging his/her child and stereotyping his/her child's playing habits, likes and dislikes just to fit the social norm and what is conceived as "correct" and "normal".

But how about the other majority of parents?

Beneath our physical exteriors are we really that different from the opposite gender?

Does nurture play a bigger role than nature?Are we just "programmed" by society and the media to have such mental sets?

In the article, research was carried out on 3 year olds about friendships. After interviews with 3 year olds, it was found that about half of their friendships are with the opposite sex. However, by the age of 5, thats drops to 20%. By age 7, almost no boys or girls have, or will admit to having best friends of the opposite sex.

Hence, as Blum suggests, is there some interesting science that suggests that the space between boys and girls is a normal part of development; there are periods during which children may thrive and learn from hanging out with peers of the same sex?Do parents, society or culture at large reinforce such separations?

Do you agree that it is nurture that brings about this ideology or the fact that physical appearance affects our relational formation and development as it is a fact that physical appearance has its biggest impact in the early stages of a relationship but its impact diminishes with time?
Do men and women communicate differently due to stimulus generalisation( communications and action based on how the person is similar to others)?