Going for the Kill
May 26th, 2008 by Brooke HartSince dating appears to be a meat market now a days, I decided to indulge myself in a feast for a while, just to try and evaluate the reality of dating and what it really means.
When you are married, you have your life in order. When you are getting divorced, your life is falling apart. When you are single, you have no life. Thus, you become a part of the meat market. Something on a shelf that is to be sold for the “lonely.” To me, that’s the American lifestyle of dating in a nutshell.
So, the beauty of this picture is that dating and being single has become such a meat market, a race and a need to not be single in order to have identity, that it’s completely messing up the entire purpose of what dating is supposed to be. I sometimes wonder why we have such as huge emphasis on these three lifestyles.
The reason why I wonder, is because whenever I meet someone… now that I’ve passed into the older years… it’s check a box whether you are single or married. Boyfriend, no boyfriend. There’s absolutely nothing else that helps to identify you. Mind you, it doesn’t matter that I would still have a life, don’t really care for the dating scene and am not going to waste my time with someone that most likely won’t work for me.
That’s the thing about dating. It’s become such a hype that it’s almost like being a couple with someone is also being an image and show with “The Significant Other”. Sometimes I wonder if people that were dating someone would stop and worry about themselves… what would happen? For most, I think they would implode without having the separate identity.
So, even though I’m classified as a “single” via, “put her on the meat market,” I refuse to go for the kill and try to identify myself in any other way.
The point being… don’t identify yourself by the other… or even by the “S” word… single. Identify yourself by yourself first. It will take you off the meat market and make things much easier. And, if all fails, when people ask about your category… just tell them you are a vegetarian.
Brooke Hart wrote this on May 26th, 2008 and filed it under Single Life |
May 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
This gave me a giggle. Because it is so true in so many ways.
It’s hard to stand out against the crowd and definately hard to define yourself as ’single’. Not putting yourself out there in the ‘meat market’ doesn’t win you any brownie points in society either. They start whispering ‘Maybe they are gay?!?!’. Attached equals stability in the eyes of most which is extremely unfortunate in that it doesn’t define individuals.
It reminds me of empty nest syndrome that women get after they have completely devoted the last 20 years to raising kids and all of a sudden they are gone. Their role was singularly devoted to motherhood. Our society puts that kind of pressure on relationships as well, maybe the hidden message is when you are married make sure you have many various roles to fulfill your life. That way should the other foot fall you still have grief, it is just a little more balanced with other pursuits.
As always .. nice writing Brooke.