I know of nothing quite like a chapel week dedicated to "Family Life" that can make me feel like a complete and utter freak of nature.
For this "Family Life Week," the speaker is some senior from some university (I missed the chapel where that information was given). He has given his personal testimony, and today he talked about his experiences with dating relationships and his desire for finding a wife. He also provided advice to those in the audience who may also be looking for a significant other.
I always feel uncomfortable during these types of talks. The assumption that the speaker makes is that every normal person actively seeks to be married and start a family. Those of you who have read this blog with any regularity know that I have no real desire to begin that type of relationship whatsoever and that I despise the thought of having children myself.
Some of the speaker's anecdotes I found almost creepy. He told of a friend of his who would pray for his future spouse every time he found and picked up a penny. After this friend was married, the friend gave his wife a large jar of pennies and said that each penny represented a time he prayed for her.
In the audience, the girls smiled and sighed at the "romantic" story, and some of the guys seemed to appreciate the gesture. However, the thought of someone giving me a jar full of pennies and saying each penny represented a time when they were thinking of me (before we had even met) makes my skin crawl. I had the same reaction when the speaker himself said that he bought a ring for sole purpose of reminding himself to pray for a "future spouse."
What is so bad about being single? Am I so strange because I do not want a person to obsess over? Am I unique because I do not pray for another person to "complete" me?
I still experience physical attraction to other people, of course. I still require other people for some of my emotional needs. It is entirely possible that I will eventually enter into a "deeper" relationship with another person. I just can not comprehend why some people so desperately want that relationship.