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For all the single people

February 15, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Keith Schell

Recently, I was looking on-line at my home town obituary page and was saddened to discover that a person I went to public school with back in the day had passed away. She was a couple of years ahead of me in school and I barely knew her in my youth, but I distinctly remembered her.

Homely and awkward as a child, I recall her as being a heartbreaking and undeserved source of cruel and constant ridicule by many of the other kids in the schoolyard back then. 

As I read her obituary, I was struck by the barrenness of her life. The years of cruel and constant ridicule in her formative years had no doubt left an indelible and lasting mark on her consciousness, for she had never married, had no kids and apparently restricted her social interactions to the few friends and family members in her life who loved her and that she knew she could trust. 

Like a significant number of currently single people, I have no doubt that the ghosts of her schoolyard past might have held her back in the present from seeking the love that everyone deserves, as if in her mind she was still the ugly duckling from the schoolyard that was laughed at and ridiculed and considered unworthy of being loved. Nothing could be further from the truth.  

People in our society today are blinded by the shallow and superficial Hollywood media propaganda that espouses that only the attractive and desirable people, the so-called ‘beautiful people’ of the media, are worthy of love. And again, nothing could be further from the truth. 

So, if you are interested in someone, maybe ask them out on a date sometime. Hey, they might surprise you and say ‘yes’! They might also say ‘no’, but at least if you ask you will know one way or the other. And if they say ‘no’, it will disappoint and hurt at the time, but at least you will know for sure and you can move on emotionally instead of being hung up on the ‘what if’ possibilities of not asking for the rest of your life. And a ‘yes’ could change your life forever!

So the story goes, when our Father met our Mother, it was at a square dance at the local community hall. Mom was new in town and went to the dance unescorted with a couple of her friends. Dad saw her there and asked her to dance. As they danced together and got to know each other, Dad took a bit of a shine to Mom. At the end of the night, Dad asked Mom to go with him to a midnight show at the local movie theatre the very next night. Mom debated about it for a bit because she had to get up to go to work very early the next day. But she had a good feeling about Dad and finally decided to say ‘yes’, thank goodness, ultimately resulting in a happy and lasting marriage and the gift of life for three sons. Had she said ‘no’ that night, Dad later admitted that he would have never asked her out again. And the rest is family history.      

So maybe take a chance and ask someone you have an interest in to go out sometime; do not simply assume that they will just say ‘no’ and that you will only be two ships that pass in the night. Take the chance and ask. All they can do is say ‘no’, and quite honestly, if that happens, you won’t be any worse off than you are right now.

And ladies, why don’t you try doing the asking sometimes? Some do in this day and age, and most men really appreciate it when they do. After all, love is a two-way street. Don’t leave it all up to the men, who can be shy and awkward and afraid to take the risk in these confusing and ambiguous times for fear of rejection and worse.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all those out there who have someone in good standing; and for all the rest of us who do not have someone, try asking the person you may be interested in out for a coffee. You never know, right? But try taking the chance. If they say ‘no’, they say ‘no’. But if they say ‘yes’, you never know what good may come from it. Marriages have originated from less. If love is not coming to you, then you might have to try going to love.   

And if something good should come from it, you might even get a story out of it that you can tell your future children and grandchildren!

So, maybe take the chance and ask out the person that you like. After all, you only go around once, and life can be short. You think you have all the time in the world for stuff like that, and then all of a sudden the time is gone.

Everyone deserves love. And like the last line from the famous song for lonely and single people by the folk group ‘America’, “You never know until you try”.

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