"They've been birthing alone for ten thousand years"

Today again from the Writer's Almanac;
Clara: In the Post Office

by Linda Hasselstrom

I keep telling you, I'm not a feminist.
I grew up an only child on a ranch,
so I drove tractors, learned to ride.
When the truck wouldn't start, I went to town
for parts. The man behind the counter
told me I couldn't rebuild a carburetor.
I could: every carburetor on the place. That's
necessity, not feminism.
I learned to do the books
after my husband left me and the debts
and the children. I shoveled snow and pitched hay
when the hired man didn't come to work.
I learned how to pull a calf
when the vet was too busy. As I thought,
the cow did most of it herself; they've been
birthing alone for ten thousand years. Does
that make them feminists?
It's not
that I don't like men; I love them - when I can.
But I've stopped counting on them
to change my flats or open my doors.
That's not feminism; that's just good sense.

"Clara: In the Post Office" by Linda Hasselstrom from, Roadkill. © Spoon River Publishing, 1987. Reprinted with permission
I am someone who grew up without a Dad,and then have been a single parent raising my child without a Dad. This poem resonates well with me. When one grows up with the only option for getting anything done whether mundane or meaningful is through your own efforts and actions, a mindset develops that you do not expect others to do for you that which you naturally can do for yourself. When I hear,people complaining about spouses, not doing this or that for them, I kind of look with a perplexed feeling ,not really understanding what the fuss is all about and often wonder, why not learn to do it yourself.I imagine there are benefits to partnerships,sharing,generosity.....