Another Love

Its once again that time of the year where I am stuck inside with my notes, trying frantically to cram everything in my head just before this next session (and hopefully the last one ever) session of examinations starts. And as per usual, spending more time going through my Facebook news feed rather than actually doing some decent work, something caught my eye. A friend of mine posted a status going something on the lines of:

"What ever happened to romance? Flowers on the first date, pulling the chair out for her, even kissing her hand?! Now it's: show up, eat food, talk, then go on phones and that's about it."

And I had never thought about it before. I don't consider myself to be, or that I ever was for that matter, a romantic person. Actually, I mostly find myself a bit awkward during a first date, or at least, until I gulp down a few glasses of that liquid courage, if you know what I mean. I can be fun, and I'll probably end up paying for dinner and drinks too, but I am not that flowers-giving/chair-pulling/hand-kissing kind of guy.

The first comment on that status read the following: 

"Cos when blokes do it these days, they are considered to be too nice, and thus are put in friend zones."

To be fair, the guy is definitely right. It has happened to nearly most men out there that once we try to be sweet and nice to a woman, we end up in the so called friend-zone, and we lose all chances with said girl. And at first I thought that was it. There's no denying that women are crazy and we're never ever gonna understand what goes on in their heads. Doing a Master's in Space Engineering, and I swear that designing satellites is easier than understanding what's going on in a woman's head.

However, after I thought about it for a little while longer, I realise that even though as crazy as most women may be, in this case its not their fault. Now that I am thinking more about it, (instead of actually doing something useful, like studying for my damned exams!) its our society that is at fault.

Welcome to 2015. We're supposed to be living in an age where we are tolerant, thoughtful, respectful of others and aware of their rights. And yet, we lost the knowledge on how to interact with those around us. We live a life where we're let down so many times, that we build a wall around us, and seal ourselves within it.

And here is the sad truth, here are some reasons why in our society no one gives flowers any more, and neither does anyone pull a chair out for someone or kiss a woman's hand during the first date for that matter. We live in a society where the guy might buy flowers, but because of that he is instantly labelled that he's trying too hard, he doesn't. And this same guy will not pull out a chair for a woman, because if he does so, he might be called sexist for assuming that the woman isn't strong enough to pull it out herself. And finally, this bloke will definitely not kiss her hand, as a woman might consider it "weird" and easily say that he might have "touched" her inappropriately.

We live in a world where we don't trust anyone any more. In a world where whatever other people do, we're always sceptical about their intentions. In a world, where we dare not trust show out true colours because we are afraid that we are going to be judged and shunned by others. And to be fair, who can blame that random John or Jane Smith walking by himself or herself on the pavement in the big city and thinking about these things, as they keep trying to reach out and, like most of us, keep getting let down by the others around them?

I wanna cry and I wanna love,

But all my tears have been used up.

On another love, another love.

Those are the lyrics Tom Odell sings in his song "Another Love". Welcome to 2015, where social media, smart phones and technology connects the world, and yet everyone is the loneliest that they might have ever been!

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P.S.: As I was writing this post, my friend Andre "Maus" Micallef kept bugging me to be mentioned. And so here's a shout out, dude, I didn't forget hah!