Ok, Thanks to
liaserenity for coming up with what follows. It's very touching.
Now I know I'm a guy. But...I like this. And I'm annoyed by all the
other guys who pretend to want "nice girls" but don't. I'm NOT looking
for
one night stands. I do want a relationship that will last. And I won't
go chasing after the first thing that's blonde. I suffer from shyness,
but I'm
overcoming it.
I may actually have a couple of possible girlfriends on the horizon...
Ode to the Nice Girls
This is my tribute to the nice girls. To
the nice girls who are overlooked, who become friends and nothing more,
who spend hours fixating upon their looksand their personalities and
their actions because it must be they that are doing something wrong.
This is for the girls who don't give it up on the first date, who don't
want to play mind games, who provide a comforting hug and a supportive
audience for a story they've heard a thousand times. This is for the
girls who understand that they aren't perfect and that the guys they're
interested in aren't either, for the girls who flirt and laugh and
worry and obsess over the slightest glance, whisper, touch, because
somehow they are able to keep alive that hope that maybe... maybe this
time he'll have undersand. This is homage to the girls who laugh loud
and often, who are comfortable in skirts and sweats and combat boots,
who care more than they should for guys who don't deserve their
attention. This is for those girls who have been in the trenches, who
have watched other girls time and time again fake up and make up and
fuck up the guys in their lives without saying a word. This is for the
girls who have been there from the beginning and have heard the trite
words of advice, from "there are plenty of fish in the sea," to "time
heals all wounds." This is to honor those girls who know that guys are
just as scared as they are, who know that they deserve better, why are
seeking to find it.
This is for the girls who have never been in
love, but know that it's an experience that they don't want to miss out
on. For the girls who have sought a night with friends and been greeted
by a night of catcalling, rude comments and explicit invitations that
they'd rather not have experienced. This is for the girls who have
spent their weekends sitting on the sidelines of a beer pong tournament
or a case race, or playing Florence Nightingale for a vomiting guy
friend or a comatose crush, who have received a drunk phone call just
before dawn from someone who doesn't care enough to invite them over
but is still willing to pass out in their bed. This is for the girls
who have left sad song lyrics in their away messages, who have tried to
make someone understand through a subliminally appealing profile, who
have time and time again dropped their male friend hint after hint
after hint only to watch him chase after the first blonde girl in a
skirt. This is for the girls who have been told that they're too good
or too smart or too pretty, who have been given compliments as a way of
breaking off a relationship, who haveever been told they are only
wanted as a friend.
This one's for the girls who you can take
home to mom, but won't because it's easier to sleep with a whore than
foster a relationship; this is for the girls who have been led on by
words and kisses and touches, all of which were either only true for
the moment, or never real to begin with. This is for the girls who have
allowed a guy into their head and heart and bed, only to discover that
he's just not ready, he's just not over her, he's just not looking to
be tied down; this is for the girls who believe the excuses because
it's easier to believe that it's not that they don't want you, it's
that they don't want anyone. This is for the girls who have had their
hearts broken and their hopes dashed by someone too cavalier to have
cared in the first place; this is for the nights spent dissecting every
word and syllable and inflection in his speech, for the nights when
you've returned home alone, for the nights when you've seen from across
the room him leaning a little too close, or standing a little too near,
or talking a little too softly for the girl he's with to be a random
hookup. This is for the girls who have endured party after party in his
presence, finally having realized that it wasn't that he didn't want a
relationship: it was that he didn't want you. I honor you for the night
his dog died or his grandmother died or his little brother crashed his
carand you held him, thinking that if you only comforted him just
right, or said
the right words, or rubbed his back in the right way
then perhaps he'd realize what it was that he already had. This is for
the night you realized that it would never happen, and the sunrise you
saw the next morning after failing to sleep.
This is for the "I
really like you, so let's still be friends" comment after you read more
into a situation than he ever intended; this is for never realizing
that when you choose friends, you seldom choose those which make you
cry yourself to sleep. This is for the hugs you've received from your
female friends, for the nights they've reassured you that you are
beautiful and intelligent and amazing and loyal and truly worthy of a
great guy; this is for the despair you all felt as you sat in the
aftermath of your tears, knowing that that night the only companionship
you'd have was with a pillow and your teddy bear. This is for the girls
who have been used and abused, who have endured what he was giving
because at least he was giving something; this is for the stupidity of
the nights we've believed that something was better than nothing,
though his something was nothing we'd have ever wanted. This is for the
girls who have been satisfied with too little and who have learned
never to expect anything more: for the girls who don't think that they
deserve more, because they've been conditioned for so long to accept
the scraps thrown to them by guys.
This is what I don't
understand. Men sit and question and whine that girls are only
attracted to the mean guys, the guys who berate them and belittle them
and don't appreciate them and don't want them; who use them for sex and
think of little else than where their next conquest will be made. Men
complain that they never meet nice girls, girls who are genuinely
interested and compelling, who are intelligent and sweet and smart and
beautiful; men despair that no good women want to share in their lives,
that girls play mind games, that girls love to keep them hanging. Yet,
men, I ask you: were you to meet one of these genuinely interested,
thrillingly compelling, interesting and intelligent and sweet and
beautiful and smart girls, were you to give her your number and wait
for her to call... and if you were to receive a call from her the next
day and she, in her truthful, loyal, intelligent and straightforward
nice girl fashion, were to tell you that she finds you intriguing and
attractive and interesting and worth her time and perhaps material from
which she could fashion a boyfriend, would you or would you not
immediately call your friends to tell them of the "stalker chick" you'd
met the night prior, who called you and wore her heart on her sleeve
and told the truth? And would you, or would you not, refuse to make
plans with her, speak with her, see her again, and once again return to
the bar or club or party scene and search once more for this "nice
girl" who you just cannot seem to find? Because therein lies the truth,
guys: we nice girls are everywhere. But you're not looking for a nice
girl. You're not looking for someone genuinely interested in your
intramural basketball game, or your anatomy midterm grade, or that
argument you keep having with your father; you're looking for a quick
fix, a night when you can pretend to have a connection with another
human being which is just as disposable as the condom you were using
during it.
So don't say you're on the lookout for nice girls,
guys, when you pass us up on every step you take. Sometimes we go
undercover; sometimes we go in disguise: sometimes when that girl in
the low cut shirt or the too tight miniskirt won't answer your
catcalls, sometimes you're looking at a nice girl in whore's clothing -
- we might say we like the attention, we might blush and giggle and
turn back to our friends, but we're all thinking the same thing: "This
isn't me. Tomorrow morning, I'll be wearing a T-shirt and flannel
shorts, I'll have slept alone and I'll be making my hung over best
friend breakfast. See through the disguise. See me." You never do. Why?
Because you only see the exterior, you only see the slutty girl who
welcomes those advances. You don't want the nice girl so don't say
you're looking for a relationship: relationships take time and energy
and intent, three things we're willing to extend - - but in return,
we're looking for compassion and loyalty and trust, three things you
never seem willing to express. Maybe nice guys finish last, but in the
race they're running they're chasing after the whores and the sluts and
the easy-targets... the nice girls are waiting at the finish line with
water and towels and a congratulatory hug (and yes, if she's a nice
girl and she likes you, the sweatiness probably won't matter),hoping
against hope that maybe you'll realize that they're the ones that you
want at the end of that silly race.