It is good to be married

Sometimes Lisa and I talk about things that are very difficult for society to address. We don't know all the answers and we don't mind being wrong. Often this conversation proceeds through rounds of questions to spur the thought of one or the other. The philosopher in me very much enjoys it, plus the mental stimulus is much needed. I wondered how far we stray towards the Socratic methodology.

Talking tonight though I realized how little I enjoyed the trivialities of the dating rituals. Not that they are not enjoyable to some extent, but they lack any real meaning and serve to provide a meager launching point for the birth of any relationship. It boggles us that so many people thrive in that mindset. Of course, watching TV programs and advertisements bounce off our eyes and ears while we were talking, I gleamed perhaps society reinforces this behavior as a celebrated symbol to perpetuate the feeling of need. For a single person feels much that they need, as many single people have shared such thoughts with me before. Single and alone, comforts can be bought. These comforts profit someone, who finds it more suitable to their aims to celebrate that behavior. After all, no one profits from Lisa and I sitting alone together and passing the time with talk - at least financially that is. I would not place sole blame on business enterprises or government control even. For the masses of single people would surely relish celebrating their status instead of wallowing in misery. So it is a dance that both parties perform, with the absent-minded Big Brother sitting on the sidelines with no cry of alarm to cause him to end the dance that both buyer and seller enter into.

The model of MTV is alarming. The superficial reality of barroom joy and fleeting romances, all resolved within a few commercial breaks. It hardly provides a basis for a young person to really know what to expect upon reaching the age when they can imitate the actions witnessed on the television. It is not that these chains of events are the denigration of society and that everything is not as good as some mythological past. It is that the symbols and behaviors taught and emulated by the younger generations are precarious. Health of the body, mind, and spirit is entirely secondary to the here and now moment of self-excess. I find it hard to believe that moment is as exalted and fulfilling as foretold. I conjur in my mind the king on a thrown who has lived a full life of massive excesses and yet feels empty inside; think of Orson Wells' Citizen Kane, think of Max Von Syndow in Conan the Barbarian, think of the author of Ecclesiates. So the younger generation with its limited attention span garners the self-importance to spurn tools they would need in the classroom and the workplace. Petty excuses become the normal means to shirk blame. The fate of our economic abilities as a leader in the world could be at stake. I feel like a link in this trend, born of TV, born of western democracy, born of America and its promises of fulfilled dreams.

One thing I know fore sure, it is always better to do things right and as soon as they should be done. Procrastination is folly. Circumvention is folly. Substandard effort is folly. These are life's lessons. They seem so self-evident yet so ignored. I would like to think I could try to be an example of how to avoid some of these pitfalls, try as I might. For sure though, finding a compatible person to spend your life with is worth infinitely more than a life of pursuits of inviduals to spend fleeting moments with. In summation, it is good to be married!