The State of "The Union"

It seems I've recently found myself part of a relationship. I am very pleased with this outcome, and happy to be a part of it. I have been in discussion with friends about this recently, and I thought to myself: Its official now, because we've both changed our Facebook status.

When did this happen? When did it become a mandatory part of our culture that we must post relationship status changes on our social networking websites in order to make it "official?" Throughout the history of man, woman, sex, love, and the like, there has been some measure of ceremony and tradition to the act of joining together, be it being "seen together," passing notes, holding hands, meeting each other's parents, etc etc

A perfect example of this is the ritual observed in the movie The Quiet Man, which stars the indisputable legend of the silver screen, Mr. John "Duke" Wayne and the stunning Ms. Maureen O'Hara (my personal role model). Set in a small town in Ireland, this is a tale of love and everything that goes along with it. Not a small part of that is the tradition of the local matchmaker/chaperon, who oversees all the interaction and legal/moral ramifications of the exchange. This makes for a delightful movie, full of laughs (it helps that the movie is full of Irish people, who are some of the most humorous people on the planet. wink!) and little mishaps that make the plot a tad more believable.

While things such as chaperons and matchmakers are not the norm in our society today, have we not traded such things for others? While at one point a 'chaperon,' so to speak, was definitely the order of the day, the times changed (as they are wont to do), and couples started to be allowed to interact without attendants. After that, couples were regularly seen together alone, and the term P.D.A. was created for that very reason. Now, no one blinks an eye when couples live together and have premarital sex. Interesting how the times change... (This is not a moral treatise. I am not here to voice my personal opinion on premarital sex or "living in sin" or anything like that. However, if you would like to know my feelings, feel free to ask and I will be more than pleased to respond.)

My point is, we have all this 'freedom,' yet we've only traded one set of leashes for another. I no longer require a chaperon when I choose to spend time with my significant other, yet it was expected of us to change our statuses on Facebook and Myspace. Its an interesting turn of events, I say. I want to see what happens for the next generation. Maybe couples won't even meet. Maybe they'll live on separate planets, and only interact through webcams and the like. Who knows...

"It is a brave new world, sir, full of religion, knavery, and change. We shall shortly see better days."

-Aphra Behn