Birth and Death

I've been intrigued by the connection between birth and death for many years now. As a man, the act of birth is a mystery to me. I was too young to remember my first-hand encounter with it, and I can never carry out that act myself. Yet, that aside, it remains part of my respect for women in that they have the power to commit an act that I can only wonder and write about. What I find truly amazing is how closely the life of mother and child are tied. Sometimes just for the child to live, the mother has to die. True, through medical and technological developments, the fatality rates for mothers has improved over time. This is not to say, however, that the risk to mothers is any less. The aspect of the balance, the fine line between her own life and the life of her child, remains. This is a commonality of life. Every man, every woman, is born with some woman having put her life on the line for their existence. Birth by itself is a miracle to be respected, as to is woman for the part that she plays. Indeed men are integral, for conception, but birth is all woman.
So how is it that men kill women? Even more integral, how is it that men kill the women they claim to love? Passion without reason is a dangerous thing. In today's world, many individuals place the location of their self-worth outside of themselves, mostly in material things, new house, car, anything that blings. Others value themselves through relationships, their passion is tied to the actions of another. Now sharing a life, being in a relationship is a beautiful thing, but it should be shared. Furthermore, self-worth should come from within the individual. Yes external events can affect how you feel, but your sense of self, your perception of who you are should come from within. Love can turn to hate in a heartbeat. But what value is placed on the life of a woman, an angel of life, when she is executed because she has chosen to end an unhealthy relationship? How many dictators are there in this land? And then, to not have the courage to face his actions, the 'man' turns the gun on himself.
Yet there is also the otherside, that no one but that man knows what was going on in his head to cause such an awful reaction. What processes are necessary to foster such a disconnect? How does what you love become who you murder? And while 'men' keep killing women, baby boys are born with less examples of what it means to truly be a man.