Men have Babies too

Men have babies too. They have ideas.  They have lots of them.  Like sperm they are secreted by the million, and sit round in the back of the mind.  Then one day some of them are suddenly sparked into life during a light-bulb encounter with an external event. They begin the struggle, through trial and error, towards fertilisation.  Each time something is observed that makes one idea seem credible, it is slowly nudged towards the cerebral ovum past its competitors.  Then another idea is moved forward, and so on as the brainstorm gathers apace.  All of a sudden it happens: Something is observed or experienced and, Eureka!  Conception.  One idea becomes firmly embedded within the womb of the brain. Slowly more and more things in the environment give the idea credibility and it takes shape, growing every day, occupying more and more space.  It is fed with arguments and observations, tests and feedback, and is nurtured carefully.  Other related ideas begin to form round it and connect to it, making the original idea bigger, and more tangible, and changing it as it grows.

As the idea gets larger it becomes a vision: a foetal reality.  Its owner might become visibly pregnant with it, talking about it passionately, or spending hours pursuing it vigorously.  A good vision can take any number of months or years to gestate, during which time it is nurtured and fed and cared for.  Drawings, models, and prototypes might attest to its impending reality. Garages, workshops, offices and studies become full of the equipment needed to fuel its growth.  If it is not properly cared for it dies, and is never born. It may abort itself in a tantrum, and an explosion of unfinished bits and pieces.  If it is nurtured, it grows to realisable proportions.  Other people begin to be able to see and touch and hear and feel it as it takes shape and the day draws nearer for its birth.

As it reaches the final stages of growth its owner becomes more and more intent on bringing it to fully tangible form.  Life reaches an urgent pitch.  Little else occupies his mind as he works on the final details and arrangements for making his vision a reality.  There may follow numerous false starts, like false labour.  They are painful but fail to deter his determination to get the innovation out of his system; to communicate its essential purpose and meaning to other people and demonstrate what it can do.  It becomes his whole reason for existence.  People begin to see him only for what he is about to beget upon the world.  He is measured in terms of his pregnancy.  "How is your little baby today?  Have you finished yet?" Some people ridicule and alienate him as his obsession increases.  They do not share the vision; they cannot see the benefits that he alone sees; they do not know what it is like to carry something for so long and not be able to show other people what it is really like.  Some think him a dreamer or a fool, but wish him luck anyway.  There is painful frustration which comes and goes as the vision repeatedly fails to work as expected.  These are the labour pains of birth. Last minute recalculations and adjustments are required.  The owner pushes towards completion, the innovation sputters, he relaxes, nothing happens and he takes a smoko break.  He pushes again and again, each time, nothing but pain of possible failure.  Following each push he relaxes to see what the morrow will bring, ready for another attempt, and many more attempts until it works.  By now he cannot stop, cannot go back.  Others are actively interested in witnessing the outcome, some participating, some only watching.  There is pain and grief with each near hit, and joy each time it moves closer to success.

Finally, after all the pain and suffering, sweat and toil, the vision is becomes a reality and the baby is born.  This is a day of great jubilation and relief because it has meant that all the months and years of gestation and nurturing have paid off.  He is now a father and is no longer carrying round the burden of an unproved idea.  He proudly displays his baby in public and is showered with accolades.  Everyone can now see in reality what he imagined a long time ago at its conception.  At the same time history has been made, no matter how large or small, and a new addition to human civilisation and progress has been made.