{"id":11852,"date":"2014-07-21T09:05:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T01:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/?p=11852"},"modified":"2016-02-24T16:50:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T08:50:51","slug":"death-of-the-handy-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/2014\/07\/death-of-the-handy-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of the Handy Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Remember the guy who could fix anything around the house? Fu Jinming looks deep within, and examines the decline of the domestic alpha male.<\/i><\/p><p><b class=\"special\">A<\/b>ccording to my late grandfather, there were only two types of men in the world: those who could fix stuff, and those who couldn\u2019t.<\/p><div class=\"banner\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">OA_show(5);<\/script><\/div><p>I grew up around men of the former persuasion. My grandfather, uncles and dad were the epitome of the man of the house. Ah Kong could bring anything from a wall clock to a sampan boat back to life. My uncles could wield a hammer like it grew out of their arms. Even my dad\u2014his son-in-law\u2014has a black belt in the power drill (which incidentally, was his solution to most things in the house).<\/p><p>A proud lineage, to be sure. One that will regrettably stop at me.<\/p><p>Now, I know a Philips screwdriver when I see one. And contrary to my mother\u2019s belief, I can change a lightbulb \u2013 quickly on good days \u2013 when I have to. What I can\u2019t do, is everything else.<\/p><p>I wouldn\u2019t know what to do with a broken doorknob, for instance. Minor plumbing problems have a high probability of turning into full-scale floods. And installing a brand new wall shelf may require a brand new wall afterwards.<\/p><p>Even IKEA instruction sheets make me break out in cold sweat \u2013 Allen key or no Allen key.<\/p><p>The bad news is, I\u2019m in good company.<\/p><p>I\u2019m surrounded by friends who would readily admit their ineptitudes in matters of home improvement. Some sheepishly, most matter-of-factly. These are strong, intelligent men, mind, who would rather face the indignity of calling in their dads to help put up their newly framed posters, than to grab a drill and try putting some holes into the walls themselves.<\/p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Death of the Handy Man\" src=\"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Handyman1.jpg\"  \/><p>I suspect even their wives would rather they just fix the home broadband connection \u2013 by calling in technical support.<\/p><p>The rise of the modern man, it would seem, has marked the decline of the handy man. Our brains may have evolved to accommodate complex tasks \u2013 like designing the next smartwatch. But our hands have devolved to handle only the most rudimentary of tasks \u2013 like thumbing the video game controller. Or typing an email to the helpdesk. Or tapping on our contact list for the plumber\u2019s number.<\/p><p>There was a time when men hunted. They provided. And if anything were broken at home, they\u2019d put it all back together again. It was an age when the man of the household was quite literally the one who fixed it too.<\/p><p>Paying for &#8220;professional&#8221; help was almost unheard of two generations ago. As far as our forefathers were concerned, the rule was simple: if it was broken in your home, you fixed it yourself.<\/p><p>And I could see why. It\u2019s not just about saving dollars and cents. It\u2019s about the satisfaction that comes with mending things with your own hands; a DIY rite of passage when boys with toys become men with tools.<\/p><p>Makes perfect sense when you think about it. Men who build their own houses know every brick like they know their own children. More than that, they know themselves and what they\u2019re capable of. Because when you build your own home or your own car or even your own toaster, you build something far more significant \u2013 your confidence.<\/p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Death of the Handy Man\" src=\"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Handyman3.jpg\" \/><p>And let\u2019s face it, having a man who\u2019s handy around the house is a convenient\u2014and very sexy\u2014one to have. According to a recent UK study, women voted a guy\u2019s DIY skills as a serious turn-on \u2013 more so than flashy cars, expensive restaurants and lavish bouquets.<\/p><p>Yet, the death knell for the handy man continues to sound. You can blame it on any number of things \u2013 the lack of time to learn and experiment with tools; the impatience of urban living (\u201cwe wanted it fixed yesterday\u201d); the way we take our household items for granted (\u201cthey\u2019re not built to last anyways\u2026\u201d), and so on.<\/p><p>Peter Mcallister, paleoanthropologist and author of Manthropology, blames the general state of modern malehood: \u201cI discovered, to my horror, that it\u2019s impossible to write a book about the superior achievements of modern males, because we haven\u2019t made any. From battling to boozing, babes to bravado, there\u2019s nothing we can do that ancient men, and sometimes women, haven\u2019t already done better, faster, stronger, and usually smarter.\u201d<\/p><p>In other words, we\u2019ve become soft. Like ice-cream.<\/p><p>Or have we?<\/p><p>We may have neglected a subtle but important fact here, that things are a lot more complicated these days. More pointedly, the devices, appliances and the tools made for them have gotten increasingly complex. Your light switches now come with digital controls. You have multi-entertainment systems with more connection cables than a NASA satellite.<\/p><p>All you need is a screwdriver and a pair of deft hands? Try that on your state-of-the-art, sensor-based washing machine. You\u2019ll sense the pain in your wallet fairly quickly when you realise its warranty doesn\u2019t cover damages from self-repairs. Which you\u2019ve just done. Yourself.<\/p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Death of the Handy Man\" src=\"http:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Handyman2.jpg\" \/><p>Thing is, different times call for different measures. We\u2019ve got YouTube channels that show us the best way to install a clothes hanger. Measuring devices that uses laser beams to calculate a room\u2019s angles. And online forums telling us that in most cases, the best way to fix certain things is to leave them to the experts.<\/p><p>Because the truth is, we\u2019re all experts in something; we all possess different talents. For some like me, fixing a faulty toilet just isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p><p>Besides, do you honestly think David Beckham \u2013 arguably the finest specimen of the modern male species \u2013 would\u2019ve mended a broken chair? Or a faulty remote control?<\/p><p>Trust me, he\u2019d much rather squeak for a new one.<\/p><p>Still, I admire a man who knows his way around a nail gun. He who\u2019s not afraid to get his hands dirty plastering an unsightly hole in the wall, or picking up the brush for a weekend paint job. For he is a man who\u2019s not afraid of toil, and of doing things the hard way.<\/p><p>Taking on a DIY job speaks of the courage to learn a new skill, and the confidence that comes with mastering it.<\/p><p>But most of all, it speaks of an anthropological heirloom that we\u2019d do well to pass on from one man to the next. So we may truly learn to make good of all that is not in our homes \u2013 wobbly tables, faltering showerheads and all.<\/p><p>There is also that special sense of pride, self-respect, and joy that come with having made something right with your own hands. Perhaps it\u2019s the gratification of knowing you\u2019ve rolled up your sleeves, and met a problem head-on. You may not have had the foggiest idea where to begin, but began you did. You mended what needed mending \u2013 in your own time, in your own way. The victory was yours and yours alone.<\/p><p>Or as my grandfather would say, \u201cSee? So easy.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remember the guy who could fix anything around the house? Fu Jinming looks deep within, and examines the decline of the domestic alpha male.According to my late grandfather, there were&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":11857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-groom-room"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Death of the Handy Man - SingaporeBrides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/singaporebrides.com\/articles\/2014\/07\/death-of-the-handy-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death of the Handy Man - SingaporeBrides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Remember the guy who could fix anything around the house? 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