Two Rants In A Row?

Well, I had so much fun ranting last time that I think I’m going to do it again today. So, get ready for some more of my accusations and such.

First off, I’ve got a question that could be aimed at both gals and guys. Why do we always seem to want to date the single person that is going to forever be un-date-able for us? Either they obviously do not like us, or the two of us would never work out. This kind of goes back to one of my older posts about music. If I like to listen to heavy metal and the girl I want to take out hates it, then, obviously, there are going to be all kinds of problems with us later on. So, why do we do it? Why set our sights on someone that is so far out of our reach that we’ll never catch them? I really don’t understand it. And I’m not trying to imply that I never do this. I do it all the time, but why? Is it just our need to attain the unattainable that drives us to do it? The world may never know.

Another question I have for girls is this: Are so many of you as shallow as you come across? I can’t count the number of times that a girl has told me that they could never date so-and-so because they have too long of hair, or not enough hair, or some other silly little thing like that. Are things like that really so important that you wouldn’t date someone because of it? And if so, how did you get that way? Is it because of the world around us? Is it because the media tells us to be beautiful and love those that are beautiful? I know that this doesn’t apply to all girls, but it does to quite a few of them. And, yes, I am aware that a lot of guys feel the same way about the girls they date. But, what drives us to feel that way? What about those of us who aren’t “beautiful people”? What are we supposed to do?

I’d also like to know why it is that when a guy is in a relationship, girls don’t feel the least bit awkward around them, but when they are single, it’s like we become some kind of creature that girls feel the need to avoid. I’ve noticed that this happens a lot in the LDS church. So, what is it that causes these feelings in women of the church? We guys are the same person whether we’re single or in a relationship, yet you all treat us differently depending on our relationship status. Are these feelings caused by some fear that we, heaven forbid, might ask you out now that we’re not dating someone steadily? If so, what would be the problem with us asking you out? Are you worried that because we ask you on one date that it automatically means we want to marry you? If so, that’s just silly. It is possible to go on a date with someone without having to worry about spending time and all eternity with them. Some of us just like to go on dates to have fun and get to know you.

But, that’s enough of my ranting for today. Oh, and I’m sorry about not posting for almost a week. Again, I don’t have internet at home so the only place I can really post anything is at work, and we’ve been short staffed this past week, so I haven’t had time to type anything up.

As usual, I’d like to get input on these topics, so leave some comments.

Avoiding Awkwardness

With LDS dating, where do you usually meet the people you date? For most of us it’s either at school or at our ward. Dating people from your ward can be a good thing, and at the same time, it can be a bad thing. The good points would include being able to go to church meetings and ward activities with them. Plus, you’ll probably know them before you start dating them. It’s actually pretty nice.

But, as I said, there are some bad points to dating a wardie. What happens if the relationship with this person goes sour and you break up? You can always try the “let’s be friends” route, but that’s not always the healthiest for recently broken up people. When you break up with someone, it tends to make things awkward when you’re around that person. It’s generally easy to avoid those kinds of confrontations when you’re not a church or activities, but what do you do when both of you are still going to all the same meetings? How do you avoid those awkward encounters with each other? You could always try going to a different ward, but if you’re like me and you like your ward, that’s not going to really seem like an appealing option.

Then there’s the problem with all the other people in the ward asking you all those probing questions. “How are you and so-and-so?” “I haven’t seen you with each other for a while, what happened?” You’ll have to tell them that the relationship is over and no matter how you do it, people are going to do 1 of 2 things: They’ll either feel sorry for you, or feel sorry for the other person. Which one they feel sorry for will most likely depend on who did the breaking up. Either way, things are going to just be even more awkward for you at church. Every week, people will ask you “How are you holding up?” or something similar to it. I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate people’s concern for me, but it’s hard to let someone who was important in your life go when people keep bringing them up around you.

Once again, I’d really like some input from any of you who read this. Leave me a comment telling me how you’ve handled ward relationships and break ups.