Cultural Difference #17

I was sitting in the park downtown. A very old man walked slowly by. Somehow it seemed odd to me that he was pushing a baby stroller. I wondered what was really inside. It was very cold here, and he was fully stocked with winter ware, including those thick wool eastern European hats. Another very old man was walking by in the opposite direction. He also walked under thick clothes with a Russian winter hat. As the two were about to pass one another, the man without the stroller briefly acknowledged the other man and then stopped and investigated the contents of his stroller unabashedly. The countenance of both men changed into large grins. Then the stranger cooed and baby-talked to the little contents inside the stroller, with a softness I usually only hear from women's mouths (at times when women forget others are present and they are with a precious child). The man with the stroller joined in, also cooing unabasedly at the infant in the public park. Both men exchanged knowing smiles and then kept going.

I have had other opportunities to observe how men approach infants/children, and the examples I had seen so far were very similar to the example of these old men.

Cooing at this child seemed to culturally signify two things about these men.

#1 They are human. Having a tender heart toward children shows we have a soul and are not machines without feelings.

#2 They are men. In Romanian culture it is not embarassing to coo at a baby because the majority of men do it, are publicly observed doing it, and when they are observed doing it they are respected.

I am thankful that some men somewhere in the world feel free to coo.