people say “chop wood carry water” because it's a nice, safe, airy metaphor, completely ungrounded in reality
people don't say “do dishes fold laundry” because that's actually real. it's brutal
Was playing smash bros with my godson and his Dad tells him if he gets one stock off me then he doesn’t have to eat his vegetables. Slim I cooked him so bad he started crying, this is what I do this for. This is why I love the game. Gon head and eat them veggies son
Well-meaning adults will tell young men that kindness is all that matters. But they have eyes and ears, they can observe how the world works, and who gets rewarded. "Competent and kind" is the ideal but if society has to settle for just one of them, it'll take the former.
/end