|
The new research was conducted by Zogby International and AOL Personals in their 2008 Love Survey.
Even our older folks think it's acceptable to have the milk without buying the cow. More than half of 60- to 69-year-olds think shacking up sounds like a good idea. It proves age doesn't necessarily make you wise; sometimes it just makes you old.
Here's another romantic finding: About half of respondents ages 20 to 59 would date someone who wasn't interested in a long-term relationship.
That's fine if "date" implies that it's a one-time or occasional event. But if "date" turns into a series of dates, phone calls and dinners with one exclusive person that lasts for months or years, then it should be called a waste of time.
If you're looking for true love, why tie yourself to a person who isn't totally committed to you?
Maybe we're attracting the wrong people. Maybe we're not very attractive.
I remember a few years ago when I was driving back from a family vacation and we were listening to the radio. I was flipping through the channels and came across a program by commentator "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger. A caller was bemoaning her mother's predicament of always getting involved with losers. She said her mother wanted and deserved a prince who would sweep her off her feet.
That's when the doctor started to operate.
Schlessinger asked if the caller's mother was any of the things she desired in a man: Was she noble? Was she an achiever? Was she generous?
The caller said her mother wasn't. Schlessinger then said it should be no surprise that the caller's mother never found her prince. She wasn't doing anything that would make herself desirable to such a person. The people she was dating were at her level, Schlessinger said.
We should take the doctor's words to heart. When we have trouble in our relationships, let's examine ourselves first.
Married or not, we all should strive to improve. Living together, dating for the sake of dating and wishful thinking aren't good ways to find a healthy relationship.
"The reward for doing right," Schlessinger teaches, "is mostly an internal phenomenon: self-respect, dignity, integrity and self-esteem."
People doing right is what appeals to us in those old fairy tales, but the traits Schlessinger mentions aren't make-believe -- they are ones we should admire and look for in a partner... and find in ourselves.
By Brent Castillo Source: http://www.kansas.com/opinion/castillo/story/276771
| 
