Thursday, January 24, 2008

Soul Mates

She's so fine there's no telling where the money went.

(That line from the Robert Palmer song Irresistible doesn't have much to do with what I'm about to say. I just like the line because it explains a whole lot in very few words.)

I don't believe in soul mates, at least not the idea that that there is only one person with whom each of us is meant to find harmony. Think about it. There are six billion people on the planet. If you are compatible with only one human in this whole wide overpopulated world, you have some serious problems!

But the ones worth sharing your life with don't come lined up on conveyor belts, either. I get that. And there have been times I've wondered if I had met "the one" and let her pass by me. And, truth told, other times when I met a potential "the one," she totally ignored me and I wondered what was wrong with me.

Maybe I was reading the wrong magazines.

3 comments:

Jim H. said...

No matter how compatible you are with someone, you ultimately arrive at the place best described by Tolkien as "companions in shipwreck!"

John said...

Maybe that's what compatibility is: A person you can live peacefully with after disaster.

Jim H. said...

Don't mean to be too philosophical about this, but think about our grandparents.

My grandpa worked 35 years at Dow Chemical doing the same thing every day. His work and, from outward appearances, his life was drudgery. But he was a vast human being in every respect.

Today's culture of Me-ism demands that we are "fulfilled" in everything we do. If our job bores us we move on.

Sadly, the same mindset applies to many when it comes to marriage:

If my spouse isn't helping me to be happy, then I'm outta here, because happiness is the goal in life.