Chaim Potok’s writing leaves me so very contemplative. His writing is so direct & simple, yet filled with such depth. I have never encountered better character development. These books make me strive for a sense of purpose, & they also makes me wish I was born Jewish. Actually, I’ve been thinking about Judaism a lot lately. I wish I could adopt a Jewish family… since I know my mother would never leave Catholocism.

In any case… another thing that stirs me mentally is the thought  of gender roles. I know it’s a very tired subject, but I’m unable to reach a perfectly firm opinion about it. The view of traditional gender roles, of women being suited toward certain activities and men being suited toward others, is seen as old-fashioned & outdated, but I must disagree with the opinion that it is these things. There are, however, better and more modern ways of looking at gender roles. I think it would be fair to say that most women are suited more appropriately for certain things than men, but these are not necessarily confined to traditionally held occupations such as secretarial work, stay-at-home mother, etc., and likewise for so-called male-dominated occupations such as business & law work.

I’d like to expand my thoughts on this subject, because I don’t think the above paragraph gives an accurate summary of my viewpoint (or perhaps lackthereof…). A key part to what I think, however, is that men & women are not necessarily meant to be equal, not in the sense that many “traditional feminists” or whatever may view the word. They are quite dissimilar, with many different facets specific to each sex.

I think the fact that I cannot limit my opinion on this subject & many others is that I try so hard to be open-minded, & the supposed open-mindedness really just assists my mind as it encroaches into the realm of indecision.