Amen and Awoman

On February 13, last year, I wrote about "When the Darnedest Ideas Go Mainstream" and I thought it was not going to get any worse. Well, I was wrong.  Only in America - no less in the U.S. House of Congress - that things actually did get truly whacky.  If this were to have occurred a little bit later, like three months from now perhaps, the whole thing would have been a great April Fools Day joke.  But, no it isn't. The 117th Congress, in its infinite wisdom, unveiled new rules, as follows:  

"Proposed changes to the rules of the House of Representatives would “honor all gender identities” by eliminating such specific terms as mother and father, son and daughter, and aunt and uncle.

Instead, only gender-neutral terms such as “parent,” “child,” “sibling” and “parent’s sibling” would be allowed in the text of the House rules, according to the proposed changes'".

There is not a whole lot the American people can do, really. These rules apply only to members of Congress in the conduct of their business in the House. On the other hand, maybe, there is something the people can do but it will have to wait two years from now, during the next election.  

Meanwhile, we can maybe just ignore it for the time being.  But we have to ask, what was all that about when a Democrat congress person ended  an invocation with "Amen and Awoman".

This is not the first time we can ascribe ignorance to a member of Congress (not to all, of course, thank goodness) but we need to make it clear to some of them that the word "amen" has nothing to do with gender identification.

"The usage of amen, meaning "so be it" (as found in the early scriptures of the Bible), is a word of Biblical Hebrew origin. The word originated in the Hebrew Scriptures, as a confirmatory response; it is found in Deuteronomy as a confirmatory response made by the people".

We have to give it to him though for avoiding a grammatical faux pas of saying "a women" since "a woman" is the one that is grammatically proper. But we'd have to scratch our head because he did say, "Amen", didn't he?  

It is official now - Congress is the Switzerland of gender.  Neutrality of the highest order.

Congress can also be the Twilight Zone, when we think about it.  Apparently, and we hope it stays this way, the rest of the country can go about their business like nothing has changed except in the House of Congress. If that is the case, then this whole thing fits the proper definition of the Twilight Zone.

But what if this whole Congress thing goes mainstream?  My greatest fear, indeed. 

First, I heard Russia and Germany are adamantly opposed to the whole idea.  Germany would like to hold on to the Fatherland; there is no way for Russia to abandon The Motherland either. The United Kingdom can breathe a sigh of relief. There is no way Queen Elizabeth will be addressed "Their Majesty".  Ian Fleming's fans had already put their foot down against the possibility James Bond will be "On Their Majesty's Secret Service". 

It is safe to say, the rest of the world will not follow.  I'm crossing my fingers. For sure, though, China will not give up on Mandarin or Manchuria.  There is no way Canada will give in to changing the name of one of its prairie provinces - Manitoba.  Even the Philippines will not alter Manila.  By the way, the Philippines has the most number of places, words and names that begin with "man".  Manuel and Manuela, like in Spain and in all Latin countries, are still  popular names for both gender.

I challenge everyone upset about this whole thing to take on the Texas humor, if y'all had read the previous blog, "Texas Signs of the Times". I have fully embraced it.  That's all we can do. We cannot go insane over this insanity, just sayin'.

So, my first order of business as a hedge against this Congress idea going mainstream, was to call my broker and instructed him to sell any mutual funds I own that invested in "Hallmark". That company could go out of business if "Mother's Day" is out.  Same with FTD and every flower delivery business. Phone companies say that the busiest single day for long distance calls is on that day.  Greeting card writers, you should all be worried.  There will be less of you because there will be less to write.  Immediately, anniversary cards will be cut down to just one - spouse - where it used to be there was one specifically for wife and husband; for daughters or sons, it will be just child. I heard the word of the decade is "they".

This is the time to invest in paint  and painting service and sign companies.  Just imagine how many "Men" and "Women" restroom signs have to be changed, worldwide.  Change to what, I don't have a clue, yet. Printing and paper companies will do well with all the revisions to be made.  If you are a proofreader, buckle up for a sudden surge of demand for your services.  There will be a lot of work to weed out all gender specific references in books and reference manuals.  

I heard The Vatican is in some serious conversation with consultants on how best to reconfigure what their parishioners may call their priests and nuns.  The biggest quandary being what to call the Pope. Holy ________, you fill in the blank.

College organizations are having the same problems.  Sorority sisters and Fraternity brothers are all going to be just plain siblings. Actually, these Greek organizations may go by the wayside.  What interest can there ever be in siblingships' allure?

Animal names are safe, I think. Well, maybe not, but the heron is at an odd place.  A name like that can go either way (he or her), but it is not likely to go unscathed.  Lions are in trouble.  For that matter all felines will simply be cats.  There can't be lions and lionesses, and for sure the tomcat is definitely in jeopardy.  The praying mantis and the manatee are looking behind their backs.  Easy for the insect that can turn its head almost 360 degrees.  The poor manatee with its large neck can only do maybe 30 degrees tops, and it is endangered too.

Greek mythology, aside from the few goddesses, usually oozed with masculinity but irony of all irony, the winner is Hercules, or is he?.  Aphrodite, on the other hand leaves her lasting legacy among certain organisms called hermaphrodites.  They're safe because they cover both bases either way.

I have come to terms with the last election results and look at it more positively. You see, we can't really be hoping for the new administration to fail and fail too badly.  The whole country suffers.  Politicians will be fine, regardless of how poorly they run the country.  On the other hand, if the new administration succeeds then maybe they do have a better way to run the country.  Of course, it all depends on how each one of us defines success.  Then, we're back to the business of politics once again.  And the rigmarole continues.

Let's hope and pray the insanity remains within the hollowed walls of Congress and that, maybe, from time to time, randomly, as dictated by the laws of probability, they might legislate something for the good of the people.  Come to think of it, it is probably best that we keep our Congress people confined behind those walls.  They could do some serious damage anywhere else.