The Toilet Seat Debate

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The Toilet Seat Debate: Current mood: cheerful Should the woman leave the seat up for the man, or should the man leave it down for the woman? The answer? Well, in the Phipps family, it is neither! I'm sure all of us girls have gone to the bathroom at night in the semi-darkness and the lid has appeared to be up, but upon sitting down you discover that the lid AND seat are up! This is a gross and a cold awakening from half-slumber! It has only happened to me a few times in my almost 5 years of marriage, but it happened a lot when I lived at home, and it is very annoying. We don't turn the light on because we are considerate enough of others to try not to wake them up, only to find that someone was inconsiderate, and left the seat up! Almost falling into the toilet is not cool! Okay, my brother in law, Clayton insists that the woman should leave the seat up. I think all men would rather leave it up if they could get away with it, but have been trained by their mothers to put it down for us. I am willing to bet that most bachelors leave it up, because they can. So, now to the Phipps family philosophy! Public restroom toilets do not have lids...one would have to hope that they are like that to discourage people from touching the toilet, unnessesarily. I think they don't have lids because that is just one more thing the employees will have to clean. Now, household toilets, however, always come with lids! There is a reason for this! You don't read home decorating magazines and see bathrooms with the toilet lid (or seat for that matter) up. It just doesn't look very appealing. Upon marrying we have approached this small problem very simply and it has worked wonderfully! The man must lift the lid AND seat at the same time to use the restroom and then he must put both down. The woman must lift just the lid, and then she must put it down, as well. This works nicely and both partners are doing something, equally. Even our son does this but occasionally forgets! :) Marriage is not 50/50, where one partner says "I will do this, if you do that". It should not be anywhere far from 100/100! Occasionally, a minor percentage might slip on one side. Keeping in mind, to maintain 100 percent of your part, will help this from happening. Both sides must fulfill their roles to the best of their ability. This will make for a GREAT marriage, rather than just a good one! This sometimes involves compromise on one side, or even both sides. It also involves giving up your rights, for a time, in order to fulfill your role, or in order to help your spouse become the man or woman God wants them to be. It can sometimes involve purging your pride! Pride destroys marriage, among other things! Having too much pride to come to a compromise on a small thing like the toilet seat, indicates that in the bigger issues of life, love and marriage YOU will destroy your marriage. You may do it slowly, chip by chip, but you WILL do it! If not destroy it totally, you will destroy the peace, serenity, friendship, love and sanctity of your marriage. You will destroy it's "heavenlyness". None of us want that, do we? I don't! Thanks for listening to me vent! God bless you and your guy/gal!