No, we can't. There's an article in Popular Mechanics magazine about how men are losing their "do it yourself" mad skillz. Seems a little sexist to me, but I'll play along for a moment.
The author uses stats like this to support his thesis: men have lost their ability to change a car tire, because last year more that 4 million roadside assistance calls were made by motorists for...flat tires. Couldn't have anything to do with all the OnStar and free assistance that comes standard with some car purchases now, right?
There's some poetic waxing about the types of handy skills boys used to always master as part of growing up, and I suppose to a certain extent that's true. It's been a long time since I've had to pound out a fresh horseshoe on the old anvil so that I could drive Trigger into the office, and I haven't rebuilt a carburetor since I had my '69 Ford Torino purring in the early 80s. Of course, I'm pretty sure all my cars since then have had fuel-injection, but that's no damn reason for me to lose the talent.
I remember when I used to change my own oil and filter, too, but I decided that it was easier and cheaper to use Jiffy Lube than to buy 5 quarts of oil and the filter, change it myself, and find a place to dispose of the used oil so I didn't kill the planet. My time has a value too, and I'd much rather spend it with my family that sliding around under my Jeep.
So what do you think? Are you half the man your Dad was when it comes to being handy? Or was your Pop a Toolman Tim Taylor too?
Let's see some comments on this one, folks.
My Dad made me learn to change a tire and the oil on my car before I was allowed to drive.
ReplyDeleteThen again, he also made me memorize the order of the planets at 5 and gave me 24-hour lectures on the lifecycle of starfish while we were at the beach, so I guess you could say he expected me to have both brains *and* brawn.
Which makes HIM twice the man his dad was.