Men, boys anything but unheard

THE EDITOR: In response to the occasion of International Men’s Day, remarks published in the newspapers from two people are worth some comment.

Both had sincere intentions. One of them, speaking on behalf of fathers, stated that “the greatest challenge men face is invisibility. Men feel unheard, unsupported and misunderstood.”

Well, that’s a difficult assertion for the other 50 per cent of the population to comprehend, sir. Tens of thousands of women and girls wish every day that they could walk the streets peacefully, purposefully and in harmony with society, but that is socially and culturally impossible for them.

Why are they deprived of peace and harmony in public places? It is the presumed right of any young boy, middle-aged boy or old guy to insult and/or provoke any female who comes into view.

Obnoxious, obscene comments from males don’t have the other 50 per cent of the population thinking the boys and men are invisible, and certainly not unheard. The gentleman who proclaims himself spokesperson for fathers maybe has no females to care about.

The other gentleman commented usefully about men’s physical and mental health. His suggestions, however, will probably come to nought.

Certainly the observation that “schools must offer nutritious meals and educate children about healthy eating habits” seems wistful. The writer knows, as do we all, that the Ministers of Education and Health are familiar with the perpetrator of godawful school lunches.

The status quo, that dreadful, unhealthy institutional dreck distributed to schools across the nation, is time-honoured. The ministers could have changed this institutionalising of bad eating many years ago, but they have not.

Is the logistical chimaera of delivering 20,000 bananas or mangoes or pommecytheres all through the educational districts of TT paralysing them? Where would the oranges and portugals even come from? Foreign?

Men and boys in TT are anything but unheard. It is offensive to suggest such a thing. Respect and good manners are what they lack.

Good nutrition in our school system involves leveraging ourselves away from highly processed bread, hot dogs, macaroni, salt, sugar and the rest of what passes as food at lunchtime to provisions and those 20,000 mangoes.

A BLADE

Mason Hall

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