GUILAIN writes from France:

Reading my recent description here of French women and their terrible fashions, one could think that I had never come across a beautiful, feminine woman.

Actually I have. It happened during my first year in college (six years ago). There was a young woman who always paid great attention to makeup, grooming and clothes. Her outfits were modest, but truly elegant. Most of the time she wore pants (I wish she hadn’t), but a few times she exhibited delightful skirts. I admired particularly that she never, ever appeared with androgynous shoes, but always with nice women’s shoes. She stood out thanks to the way she dressed, but that’s not all.

She also was full of feminine grace which one could admire in her movements and smile. And she was a Catholic. One of the last thing she told me before she moved to Paris (four years ago) was: “I like France.“

This one sentence was arresting. Why was it important?

Well, shortly after she left, I began to ponder my country’s future and to read alternative media on the Internet. I discovered how bad things were in France and in the West in general. I came to understand that there were considerable forces seeking to eradicate every great aspect of our civilisation. Meanwhile, these three words, “I like France,“ as well as the image of the beautiful young lady were printed in my memory. From the beginning, I decided that I would not let the place she loved, the place she belonged to, be destroyed. To me, she incarnated beauty, and I would not let beauty become extinct.

But let’s come to the point. Had I not came across this particular woman, things would have gone radically differently for me. I would have retreated from the unpleasant reality exposed by alternative media and I would have played video games all day. There is no doubt in my mind of that.

By telling this anecdote I intend to show the major influence that a woman will certainly have on some men in her life, if she decides … to be a woman.

By being feminine, she made me realize that deep inside I was a man. My will to fight for her progressively turned me into a man for real. She also made me experience true respect and devotion for a woman. It changed the way I saw women in general and led me to respect them more. As a consequence of her faith, I have gotten much closer to Catholic Church than I was.

Somehow, she could also claim credit for my presence among the readership of The Thinking Housewife. This presence — and the fact that I count myself among the forces for good — is arguably her masterpiece.

—– Comments —-

Kevin M. writes:

As I read Guilain’s post, I was reminded of the Maryland restaurant scene in As Good As It Gets  (“Do they have soft-shelled crabs here?) when Jack Nicholson explains to Helen Hunt what she means to him: “You make me want to be a better man.”

I have long wondered what single most vital characteristic a woman brings to a man’s life that makes a marital union something beyond the utilitarian, the biological or the socially expected. I am convinced that what a woman–the right woman–can do for a man that no other woman nor another man can do is to inspire him to expand and improve himself into a greater being. There are anecdotes of military men who, when serving an impressive officer (the young George Patton serving General Pershing in Mexico, for example), come away inspired to be sure. But that is a very different kind of inspiration.

Not to point evasively the finger of blame at women today, but when I occasion to catch a few painful moments of The View or Oprah or other female-centric entertainment, I see no evidence that women are telling each other or teaching each other that the greatest power they will ever have over men is their ability to inspire them.

Or am I wrong?

Laura writes:

No, you are not wrong.

Women are chasing power in all the wrong places.

A faithful reader writes:

When we found out our daughter had left her husband and was seeking a divorce, most of our family thought it was high time. Yes, he was a low-life. Yes, he cheated. Yes, he was a totally irresponsible idiot. But our daughter was raised differently and knew better (of course she had her failings.) However to my knowledge throughout the marriage she never really attempted to help him step up, never tried to show him that better way. I always felt she bore at least the responsibility of not lifting him up when she had the opportunity. No one else in the family seemed to understand, but I knew what my wife had done for me many times over the years–made me want to be a better man.

Laura writes:

Such an important point.

The more women focus on themselves, the more men falter.

Please follow and like us: