Blow Out: Everything On Sale!

The morning of Saturday April 18th has become an important marker in the evolution of my manhood.  I changed my first tire at 22 years old.  You may be wondering if I'm serious about the importance of this event, and rather than now telling you whether or not I'm exaggerating, I'll just let you keep wondering.  

I must admit, I did have an inflated sense of pride in my existence as a male.  I feel like changing a tire is a lost art of sorts in the chapter of men.  This day and age, who needs to know how to change a tire when you can call AAA and have some other guy do the job?  Or you could avoid the complicated phone altogether and press the magical "Onstar" button that sends a grease covered hero to your side.  

I feel like the age of practical knowledge is lost.  I don't know when or how it went away, but there is a noted helplessness in today's society that forces us to use a micro-economic bailout.  We don't have to do anything ourselves anymore, a service can be provided for everything.  Obviously, there are necessary services that one needs (the common person can't replace their own car engine or fly their own plane) but I'm not talking about needs, I'm talking about services that we don't need but are willing to pay for.  I know a woman who has a service taking care of peoples DMV errands (which means she is essentially getting paid to wait in line for whoever is unwilling to do so themselves).  

I started thinking about this when my friend Chris was asking where I was Saturday morning in a text message.  He replied to my text "I had a blowout but I'm on my way" with "like a flat tire?"  I was tempted to respond with a sarcastic "no, I was slowed down by a huge blowout sale I saw off the freeway."  It really is true though, I feel like America is obsessed with using commerce to pass their day to day menial problems onto someone else.  There was a day when every boy was instructed in the art of practical knowledge.  Every man was a handy man.  Now: you can look up a "handy man for hire" in the yellow pages.  Why are we becoming so atrophied?... Can everything be bought?  

Apparently manhood can be purchased, or so society would like us all to think.  Hmmm... lets see, just an example... extenze or enzyte.  Of course, for just a small fee you can purchase a pill that gives you manhood you can really measure.  Really?  I've always liked the idea of woman providing the best reflection of a guy's own manhood.  After all, what is a man if there were no women?  But still, commerce must be removed.  Too many men try to develop a masculine identity through the "purchasing" of women in adult magazines.  How about instead of exchanging money for product or services, we exchange respect and self worth.  Manliness is not for sale.  Treat a woman with love and decency and if you get a flat tire... fix it!