Here’s looking at you, ladies

The 8th of March — a day celebrated as Women’s Day all over the world. Once you have successfully suppressed the urge to crack that lame joke about the remaining 364 belonging to men, we shall move on.

I say lame but also mean incorrect. We don’t commemorate women once a year. In fact, I can hardly think of a few hours going by without me having to profusely thank a lady for seeing me through whatever it was that I was doing. Here I am not even including my shrink, AA sponsor, or parole officer.

Women, we men need you; just like a car needs wheels, or a writer, language. The reason we have only one day earmarked is only to help you remind yourselves that you are special. If we every day were celebrated it wouldn’t be special then. That’s the kind of quotidian ennui that could have made Superman leave Kryptonite for good.

Women have contributed to society with all sorts of contributions. The simple things we take for granted everyday, from windshield wipers and car and solar heaters to the refrigerator, medical syringes or that white-out liquid we use while writing, all invented by women. Fire escapes and life rafts, both these life-saving devices had a lady inventor. A lady was also responsible for giving us Kevlar, standard bullet-proofing material. Lady Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, may not have written poetry but she did the first computer programs. If you saw the recent flick Hidden Figures you already know how the contribution of a few genius women (who fought the odds) made the first moon landing possible.

Recreationally speaking, Elizabeth Magie designed that lovely board game, Monopoly. The Champagne I so like to drink was an entire industry spearheaded by women; if it weren’t for them taking charge of some of the top houses and steering them through all sorts of calamities both natural (vineyard disease, drought, floods, heat) to man-made (world wars, The Great Depression).

Even beer was originally brewed by women and to date, there are certain brews in the Northeast that men aren’t allowed to touch for then, is it believed, the product turns out bland and insipid.

Women have touched every aspect of our lives, from wireless transmitters and CCTV to brown paper bags, nothing has been too simple or too complex to tackle for the female mind.

The only thing they have wisely left out is a replacement for us men. And we need to work hard to ensure that it stays that way. Already with Google finishing my sentences, I feel we are fighting on a slippery slope.

So, if you remember to felicitate the women in your lives on the 8th of March, then make it a point to do it again every now and then. Don’t tell them why, just an act of kindness randomly placed in the time. If you feel short of reasons to follow through with my advice, come and read this column again, and humbly comply.

Here’s looking at you, ladies; if I weren’t already in a straitjacket, I’d raise my glass too!

The writer is a lover of wine, song and everything fine