I’m not normally one to blame my problems on someone else; truth be told, I usually take on an inordinate amount of blame. There is, however, something I know isn’t my fault and that I can, in fact, place some of that blame on you, society.
This “something” is not as succinctly explained as I would prefer it be, simply because it’s not so… simple, and frankly, neither am I. No, even now I can’t seem to craft a single sentence detailing what I’m blaming society for, nor why society sucks for it. How about this: This fantasy land of love, life and happiness I’m forced to believe/expect/want for myself is a steamy pile of horseshit.
Here’s how this all started. Today, while walking to the train from work, I was in my own little world, listening to whatever random music popped up when the son “Save Tonight” came on. It’s such a soundtrack song; one of those that seems as if it was made specifically for the movies and shouldn’t be played unless it’s accompanied by a movie. In fact, I know it’s in a movie because it’s from the “A Lot Like Love” soundtrack. Now, I don’t know what part of the movie it is from (watching that movie reminds me too much of an off and on over a couple of years relationship I had with someone and even thinking about watching it makes my heart die a little), but it feels like one of those ditties played over the point in the movie where the guy has found out what is wrong, has decided what he needs to do to fix it and the movie takes on a collage of scenes where he’s putting his life in order… all to get the girl back.
So, I’m walking down the street, this song plays and how does my movie-trained brain respond, by thinking “If this were a movie, this would be the point where I’d get into gear, I’d stop smoking, start working out, clean my apartment, drop the video games, become smarter, funnier, stronger, more genuine, make more money, find a job that I enjoy, i.e. straighten out my shit, all to get the girl.” Except there is no girl, no shit to straighten out, no gear to be had.
You, society, are to blame for the countless songs, poems, movies, books, etc.; most of them laying out a life of utter fiction in which: boy finds girl, boy gets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy screws up, boy loses girl, boy drastically alters life to get girl back, boy gets girl back, boy and girl live happily ever after. This is bad enough in and of itself, but add to the farce of the story the imagining of love as this perfect thing where it happens at first sight, everyone is happy, no problems are to be had (outside of boy screws up) and that a person (usually the boy) is the problem but that his problems are easily changed at the drop of a hat and forgiven and forgotten henceforth. What a sham, one in which everyone, I believe, has eaten like candy. We've gotten so obsessed with this perfect person, both in others and ourselves, that even the use of the words "good enough" engender a sense of giving up what you want out of your life and what you want from someone else; when love, perfect love, is good enough. Let me say that again:
perfect love = good enough
So despite the fact that most women won't even give me the time of day because I'm not 6' tall, I'm not nicely built, I don't enjoy a big bank account, I don't have any friends to go have "guy time" with, and I'm not this outgoing person; I say screw you society and the stupid bullshit you're trying to force feed me with. You suck.
Cheers