If all men take your advice and try to find a partner for which they NEVER, EVER have the capacity to cheat, even if there's a stunning woman and they think they'd never get caught, they may never be married.
And I'm talking about million and millions of people here.
For the record, I have never had "sexual relations" (I love that phrase, it's so dumb) with another woman while I was in a serious relationship. And I *think* this will continue. Obviously I get to decide if it will.
With that said, I have two points:
1)-There is no such thing as someone that fulfills
ALL of your needs (unless your standards are really, really low). In other words,
the idea that there is one, magical partner that is absolutely perfect for you is a fictional creation born of romance novels and lofty imaginations.
There is a spectrum, with some partners unable to fulfill ANY needs, and others being able to fulfill most of them. IMO, everyone has to find someone on the right side of the spectrum, within reason. People romanticize everything (again, in part because of our pop culture, romantic comedies, etc.), and for this reason, they often end up disappointed at some point.
There's a balancing act being between getting the person you love and deserve to have while also being realistic about things. You can't depend on ONE person to fulfill EVERY need you have. That's what friends, family and personal time is for, to fill in those blanks. It's not fair to the other person if you believe otherwise.
Unless someone figures out how to clone themselves mentally, and then just changes a few things around (great, she likes video game football, threesomes, politics, evolutionary psychology, Wild Cherry Pepsi, is an atheist, and on and on and on), it ain't gonna happen. You gotta find someone who agrees on the *important* stuff, whatever that means *to you*.
2)-Most people are never REALLY tempted.
Being *really* tempted means you're incredibly attracted to this new person AND confident enough in yourself to go for it (how many people let themselves go physically in a relationship? Yes, that matters here) AND thinking you'd never be caught.
Some people will still pass this test but many, many, MANY people will fail it. They pride themselves on not cheating (hey, I haven't, but I don't pride myself on it) despite never having *really* been tempted.
For the third time I'm going to recommend everyone read Mark Twain's short story,
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. Twain kicks ass (for all atheists/agnostics,
The Mysterious Stranger is a MUST read), and this story helps explain my position.
PS---Spinny, I'm guessing you agree on their not being a perfect partner out there. I didn't mean to direct all of my comments to you specifically, I was speaking more broadly.
by
Tom Hanc on
03/15/2008 05:20:16 PM EST
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