Men and Women, Shovels and Spoons

Shovels and spoons look similar and can do a lot of the same things. Most shovels are bigger and stronger than most spoons, but you can still dig a hole with a spoon. Most spoons are more delicate and refined than most shovels, but you can still serve chocolate mousse with a shovel. And with modern technology, the differences between the two can be made even less. Why then should spoons be kept out of traditional shovel job opportunities? Why should spoons be deprived of the right to be mustered along with the shovels when it is time to shovel  – er, sorry, utensil bias showing through – relocate manure? It is true that shovels like to look at spoons and fantasize about spoons and have a propensity to hit on spoons and fight with one another over spoons, as well as to protect spoons. And spoons tend to flirt with shovels and dress for shovels and compete with one another for shovels and talk constantly to their spoonfriends about shovels. But we can overcome all that with sensitivity training for shovels and “I am spoon; I am invincible” training for spoons. We all know the differences between shovels and spoons are evolutionary accidents that have outlasted their survival value. Evolution has now given us technology and a new way of looking at things. The primitive idea that differences between shovels and spoons reflect design differences is a throw back to our old superstitions when we naively believed in a Designer. The quaint notion that shovels and spoons were made differently to fulfill different purposes and compliment one another is a shovelistic lie used to subjugate spoons. We must not let these lies of the past deny us the brave new world of full shovel-spoon interchangeability.