“The Men We Carry in Our Minds” by Scott Russell Sanders

In “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” by Scott Russell Sanders, Sanders described how men worked hard all day and the health issues they later on in life. Sanders also show the comments and reactions of women he knew or came across throughout his childhood life. As he got older, his opinion changed tremendously. He realized women had it much harder. In the society today, men and women are trying to make things equal between the two genders. Women are allowed to participate in what some people call men activities or jobs, such as: welding, mechanics, or even being the CEO of some companies. During Sanders’s past most of a man’s future was to work hard and to support their families and women’s jobs were to take care of the house and children. In the past, all men worked hard. Sanders grew up to believe that men were to be in charge of everything. Men were the backbone of the country. Sanders say “When I was a boy, the men I knew labored with their bodies, they were marginal farmers, just scrapping by, or welders, steelworkers, and carpenters” (Sanders, 623.) Sanders had more consideration towards men. His view on men are without a doubt shown, that men are what keeps this country up, if it was not for the hard working hands of men, nothing would be able to get function properly.

He also believed that men were warriors, superior beings that would give their life for the right thing. It has always been known that men are more in control than women are. It is clearly shown that Sanders is sensitive towards men and will always be on their side no matter what the situation is, but he also has a soft side for women because he has now come to realize what they go through alot while men are at work. Sanders also express his views on women. He believe that women have it harder than men, “This must be a hard time for women…. they have so many paths to choose from, and so many voices calling them” (Sanders, 621.) He means that there are so many different types of possibilities and new decisions that women have to take, and the majority of them are not easy choices to make. Sanders measure up to his early views of men and women to his views later on in his life. Sanders examine the lives of different men that live around him. In this connection, he finds out that the majority all the men who live around him, have come to have a certain feeling and mind-set in the world around them. He expresses, for instance, that the father considers himself powerful in the home. He makes most of the decisions and dictates a lot. The task for men were to make sure all the bills were able to get paid, make sure there was food on the table, and to keep his family safe. Because the husband controls everything in the home, his family is more reliant on him.

It gives him the upper hand, which allows men to think they were to be in charge of everything around them, which is not the case. Most men make the money to pay the bills but leave the women to get everything done. Sanders further explains that the poor standard complex built up in women comes from the idea and thought that they need to be responsible for many duties in the society. For example, they always have the pressure to handle their kids, maintain their career, and combine these with cooking dinner and other things that come with living in the world. Thus, all these duties weigh them down, because they seem to be worried with many important things. He says that there is a feeling of guilt that comes to his mind once he sees women broken. Moreover, if the oppressed people are the poor, the author feels that that is absolutely not right. In addition, a feeling of shame, amazement and confusion comes to him, when he thinks of women being discriminated.

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