Was I the only one who watched The Da Vinci Code hoping the secret message about Christianity was that some Roman version of Hallmark made up Jesus to sell greeting cards? I’m certainly not alone in regarding Valentine’s Day as a manufactured excuse to underscore historical gender norms with a little kiddie porn thrown in (really, what’s with all the naked babies with wings and bows and arrows?), but I know I’m probably in the minority when it comes to Mother’s Day. Hate it.
And so on with the brave, fearless reconsideration of all our cherished notions. One of these days someone will write “My mom hit me with a baseball and I threw up apple pie on the flag” and they’ll close up the sites, having said it all.
Until these pieces are posted, let’s amuse ourselves with The New Republic, where an author wrote “It’s Time to Ditch Monogamy.” A piece from the archives of 1970? No, bold new thinking, spurred by Cameron Diaz’s insights on the superiority of drifting from one chap to the next. Monogamy doesn’t work for Diaz, or the author of the piece, so Ditching must begin. It’s not enough to say, “I just can’t imagine sticking with one person the rest of my life. I foresee a series of satisfying relationships of varying duration and intensity, after which I retire to Nice and become known in the neighborhood as the iconoclastic woman who turned to pottery at the age of 74.” No, you have to decide that everyone should rethink the idea of faithfulness. (read more)
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Congrats to GA's own Zac Brown & wife Shelly on the birth of their 5th child - and 1st boy! http://t.co/07gY065Mta pic.twitter.com/lEaIL2RSGl
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 9, 2014
19 comments:
Mother's Day is a bogus holiday cooked up by the chemical industry to sell aluminum sulfate.
Yes, misery loves company!
chick! help me out on batty's comment.
My mother always braided her underarm hair and let that natural odor shine through!
Look, I get it. Commitment to another person is awesome and a special feeling you don't get any other way. Being in love is unequalled in life, and knowing that this person is the one forever can be intensely satisfying and fulfilling, and I believe monogamy is mandatory for a peaceful, respectful society. I really can't say enough about it, BUT:
I believe the majority of people who are in long term relationships secretly, not so secretly, wish they were not. They may be mistaken about how that would work out, but they wish they could give it a try. I don't have numbers, but it seems to me that most people I know in these relationships seem mostly unhappy with it, and often can't stand each other.
This concerns me right now as tomorrow I drive 8-10 hours round trip to pick up my girlfriend and move her into my home. Let me be clear. I'm crazy about her and have been since I met her 33 years ago. We are wildly in love, and I'm very excited about being with her all the time and forever, and sharing our lives, But:
There is just no comparison to the excitement, the joy, the shear power of being in love and NOT seeing each other continuously. To be apart for a while and then getting together creates so much excitement and anticipation it's incredibly fun and just intoxicating. Our friends see what it does to us, and they are seriously envious. Hell, I even envy myself sometimes, and can't believe how lucky I am to be able to feel this in my fifties like a kid again getting his first kiss. Our friends in long term relationships seem to envy it most.
It may be just too bad, but really, I don't want to lose that. I know something else replaces it that has it's own power, but damn! It's quite a price to pay.
Growers apply aluminum sulfate to Mother's Day hydrangeas to get that vivid shade of blue.
Yeah, I know. That was a quip even more obscure and oblique than my usual.
What can I say?
@bagoh
My girlfriend and I are thinking about living together.
The jury is still out.
She endured my long grieving over Myrna, and I don't know how she tolerated that.
After ten years of living alone, I kinda enjoy having my own place to indulge my stinky bachelorhood and bad habits.
We're trying to work it out.
Getting cold feet is kind of normal and it can express itself in a bunch of different ways.
I thought 'monogamy' was a monkey doing origami at six flags. (kidding)
There is a movie with Alan Alda that sounds a little bit like Bags paramour ;-) situation.
I'm at work right now, I cant look it up.
Oh crap! I'm Alan Alda now? Just shoot me.
Not the MASH Alda. He was alright, but the post MASH one. Is that gonna happen to me?
I just checked and I still have mine. Is that gonna change now?
One of the things that bugged me about Alda on M*A*S*H was the way he'd let loose with a nasally belly laugh while flailing his arms wildly.
It came off as completely exaggerated and phony.
And the thing of it was, you just knew that was how he laughed in real life.
MASH was a preachy pro-commie message-laden POS show. O, wise Hollywood writers, show us how racist and xenophobic we are. Alda was the head cheerleader leading the anti-American charge.
At least we are no longer subject to those sorts of diatribes these days, right? RIGHT?
Monogamy means everybody gets laid and VD doesn't spread.
It also is the origin of, "Marry in haste, repent at leisure".
Which is a corollary of the definition of love at first sight - 2 extremely horny, but not very choosy people.
PS The irony is Richard Hornberger, who wrote the original MASH novels, and Burt Prelutsky, one of the show's more prolific writers, are both hard core Conservatives and very pro-military.
The reboot of 24 is pretty good and I learned something about the human ear that I never knew before.
Yea, that leave Korea to the Commies thing didn't work out so good up North. Turns out that they were not just regular people trying to live in peace.
@ricpic: I'm afraid I can't help you there. I do recall that Meade was an expert on metals in soils and their botanical effects. Perhaps someone could thaw him from the deep freeze.
At some point in my life, I realized that various "sins" that send people to "hell" are not so much a judgment and punishment of a deity, but a warning about how most people respond to certain deeds.
Perhaps I am missing something in life by remaining monogamous in my marriage for over 14 years, but whatever I'm missing, I don't want it. I know a few people who are single at my age and doing things I dreamed of as a kid. But day in and day out, they don't seem as happy and fulfilled as I do.
As for Mother's Day, I know it is a scam. I take my mom out at least once a month without needing a special day. I take my wife out all the time. Still, I'm happy to recognize my wife and mom for the things the provide to me, my sister, and our children. I'm sure such a day sucks when your Mom is no longer with you or you don't have a wife. There's plenty of holidays like that for me.
Re: Mother's Day. Sure it is a scam to sell stuff. But it is also a nice reminder to stop and be grateful for all that your Mother does for you, assuming you had a nice mother. Some people don't :-( A day of appreciation that can just be a moment where you stop and say. Thank you. There doesn't have to be gifts. As a mother, I think the greatest gift you can get is the acknowledgement of love and affection from your family.
Re: monogamy. From my advanced perspective of age as well as getting ready to mark our 20th anniversary of marriage +2 years of dating, here are a few observations.
The white hot emotions in the beginnings of a relationship. Love and lust. All consuming thinking of each other. The lust and sexual appetite. That doesn't last at that initial level. And good thing too. We aren't meant to live in such an electrified emotional state. What happens (in my case anyway) is that you gradually move into another plane of love, affection, respect and friendship. You are still in "love" and in "lust". Is is just different.
The friendship portion is probably the most important piece of the relationship. You can share your innermost thoughts with your spouse/lover/friend. You respect each other and support each other in the big things and in the little things. No one knows you like your spouse. You can be YOU with your spouse because he/she loves the person that you are and you are his/her best friend too.
When you are old and gray. When your body parts are not functioning as you wish, or maybe not functioning at all. The love and friendship you have will be the strengths that will keep you strong and keep you happy.
This monogamy thing sounds kinda selfish. What if you just have more to give than any one person needs? To paraphrase Obama, ~I do think at a certain point you've made enough love... to one person.~
We need some love redistribution in this country. "The Europeans..."
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