Anonymous replied on Permalink
by his wife, Discretion,
by his daughter, Responsibility,
and by his son, Reason.
Interesting: These three short lines are as old as Sophocles' "Antigone" (441BCE):
It was imperative in Greek society 2500 years ago to have a wife who had Discretion--abey men in all things, never be seen in public without accompaniment, stay out of politics or any social or cultural discussion; daughters always had the Responsibility to obey fathers and husbands, and only men had Reason; therefore, ""Anti" (against) "gone" (root of words describing male organs) means against man and by extension Antigone's actions were against Reason.
I agree with everything you've written above, the example that comes immediately to mind is a teenage boy who, despite posted warnings all around the enclosure to not break into the polar bear exhibit, cut the wire fence and snuck in. The boy was mauled (I think naturally, of course, the bear did what bears do,) the bear was shot, the teenage boy and his family were awarded a great settlement. I understand the sentiment from society about feeling for the boy, it was an terrible thing to have happened to the boy and there was great and deserved sympathy for him, but why shoot the bear (like the burglar who gets a settlement if injured in committing a crime.
The only thing I hesitate about is what I've written above about Antigone. The roles of men and women have evolved: married men and women should of course be loyal, but women are expected to have their own public lives and personal goals; daughters should of course honor their parents wishes, but obsequious deference to all males and loss of "self" doesn't seem right; and fathers are not always right about their children's socialization, some are abusive, some are incestuous, some are jealous of a child's intelligence, some have egos threatened by their children's own expressed needs and goals in their own lives, and so on. Thanks.