50.0°,
Overcast Cynical about relationships? Not me
Last weekend, I was out in Bellmore with a few friends to see a movie (we saw “Limitless” … it was pretty good, worth the $10). As we were waiting for the movie to start (or the previews to roll anyway), my friend Amy mentioned to me that she’d read a previous column of mine about trust and relationships.
“I actually think you came off a bit cynical.”
“Really? That definitely wasn’t what I was going for.”
“Maybe you really weren’t and it’s just because I know you and we’ve talked about all of your dating experiences but…”
Hmmm… I never thought of it that way. And I certainly hope that’s not how that column came off to other readers. After all, my friends (Amy included) know that as far as dating is concerned, I’m a hopeless romantic. The key word perhaps being hopeless.
In my life, for better or worse, admittedly I’ve gone out with a fair amount of women. Nothing crazy, don’t get me wrong. But there have been a few. And in dating those women, many times, some of the behavior that I experienced from them was, well… I’ll be politically correct and just call it questionable.
Even when it’s happened before, when people (in this case, women I was dating) do “questionable” things, it still never ceases to amaze me. I don’t know why I’m still surprised when that happens, but I am. Saying things and doing the opposite, being rude, immature, and selfish — unfortunately, they are all things that I’ve experienced in my dating endeavors.
Now I’m not saying that only guys are on the wrong side of the fence on this. As I said in a previous column, guys unquestionably go down that road, too. But just because “everyone does it” doesn’t make it right.
It’s not right.
And this isn’t about me. This isn’t Mitch saying “I’m too damn good to tolerate people behaving that way toward me!” That’s not the case by any means. NO ONE should have to tolerate that kind of behavior and ridiculousness from other people. Whether in their dating lives, or from their friends, family, or anyone else.
