Single?
While having dinner with some friends over the weekend, one of them asked me at point-blank, "When are you going to settle down?" with the unspoken implication of with someone.
Perplexed, and irked, I replied, " Why do you need to settle down with someone? Isn't oneself enough?"
" Maybe when you are 40, you will sing a different tune. We'll see by then if you will still say the same," he retorted.
" Perhaps I might. It is true. I am still young, hale and hearty, and still a ripe prune. Maybe when I am old, I may wish to be with someone. But why do we need to? Is one person's wholeness and happiness only valid if you are "settled" down with someone?" I replied.
There is too much emphasis and social implication on the concept of being in a relationship that it practically elevates you to sainthood if you are in one, and particularly a long-term relationship. Maybe I am being overly cynical now, but honestly at that point of time, I felt that that friend in question, had a snide and condescending note to the question; his long term partner, kept quiet beside him.
So what if I am single? Does that mean I am not settled down? Just a question to everyone who may be reading this, why does being settled automatically mean being with someone? Is a single person not capable of settling down? And just on that note, what does settling down mean? Forming a relationship? Getting married? Going by that, single by choice people are not settled down? What of People of the Cloth? Does that mean they are forever not settled down?
Of course... again you can always say that I am only being this way because I am still relatively young, and still in demand. Yes I totally agree with that. Humanity have always felt invincible in the bloom of youth, and only when disaster or old age have come upon them do they grasp the concept of mortality.
Which brings me back to the original question. Is being single so that bad? Should everyone pursue a relationship as the most sacred and important career/choice?
I supposed I'm really going to Hell now. Gay AND single.