e-harmony

Today I would like to talk about e-harmony. That’s right, the online dating service. I happen to have an ever widening circle of friends and acquaintances who have tried this or similar services, many of them getting successfully connected. There is always someone who is surprised by this. It’s either genuine astonishment or a snicker of condescension. Often people think that either this person didn’t need to stoop to such desperate measures, or they find it funny because they knew that they did. But the truth is that all e-harmony does is take out the pretense. They simply facilitate a setting for good connections to be made. I’m similarly surprised when I hear my Christian friends complain that someone is going to church or a youth group just to meet members of the opposite sex. Now, hopefully there is a little something more to their reasoning for going, but of course that’s why they’re going! Where would you rather they go to meet people, the bar? The reality is that most people end up getting together with someone they went to school or grew up with, someone they work with, or someone from a social group that they’re a part of. So if you’ve moved away from home and work with a bunch of slobs: get online, baby! We’re human beings, and human beings, with very few exceptions, are made to be together in a relationship. To me it makes perfect sense for single people to join a group whose stated purpose is to make this happen. I think that in Christian circles especially, a lot of social and sexual frustration is caused by the pretense that we’re not suppose to admit our desire to be with someone and just be honest about that. Not everyone will find someone, but it shouldn’t be for lack of putting yourself out there and taking the chance. I believe that this is one beneficial product of technology. We can find people with similar values, interest, and passions without having to pack up our teepee or yurt and trek off to the next tribe. Of course, the technology gets corrupted just as fast as it develops: I just heard about an online dating service for married people. They just had an ad campaign rejected for the Toronto buses they were to be displayed on. It said, “Life is short, have an affair!” I guffawed. Seriously, like an old woman. “What is this world coming to?” I said to myself, as I closed my Woman’s World magazine and re-crossed my legs beneath the Industrial hairdryer. But I digress. My point is that People should be together if possible, and a healthy connecting point is something to be excited about it. I mean, if they’d had it when I was single I wouldn’t have had to spend so much time in those damn baking clubs, or petitioning my MP for a constitutional amendment that would allow me to get a membership at Spa Lady. THAT would have freed up a lot of my time. So here’s to you e-harmony. May all your matches be made in heaven.