Now, granted, most of the people who are single do, indeed, wish for someone to cuddle with or hang out with on a consistent basis. We ALL want someone who can love us and validate our existence by telling us we are valuable, or better, beautiful. But it is those who resist jumping into a subpar relationship that have the keenest sense of self.
I am too lazy tonight to look up statistics. If you happen to know the percentage of people in a relationship/marriage (I don't care about the distinction) versus those who aren't, please post such numbers.
BUT. Here is the central hypothesis. It takes a truly confident, self-assured person to remain single. To resist succumbing to the first stranger who flirts and gives you attention. To hold out for the perfect person who is ALL of the above: 1) physically attractive to you (and this is relative to each of us), down to your sexual core, 2) completely attracted TO YOU (down to every last twisted curve and bump you despise, but who especially loves those curves!!), 3) intellectually at least your equal, and preferably more genius in literature than you are, who is perhaps your inferior in all things related to science, for example, and 4) financially stable (and preferably, able to spoil you, and you him/her).
I do NOT believe the crap that tells us that we should compromise. That we should put aside our hope that we will find someone that fulfills all that we believe we should have. My theory: if we don't, then WHO CARES??? We will go on living our lives, sans compromise. Figuring out who we are. And, if, at any point, we realize that we are better off with a lesser person than we've imagined in our dreams, we can go right ahead and snag the mediocre bastard hanging out at the corner bar.
For the rest of us, we'll go ahead living our dream lives and imagine cuddling next to our dream partner. Or a dog. (But, at least in NY, that wouldn't be fair).
