I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday morning listening to Oregon Public Broadcasting. I was expecting Cartalk, followed by Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and What Do You Know? Unfortunately the radio schedule is a bit different this morning, so I am listening to This American Life and Cartalk.
On This American Life they are talking about "Is there just one person out there with whom you are supposed spend the rest of your life?" Is there one perfect person? Is there one person with whom you are supposed to spend the rest of your life? Or, are there lots of people who would be a great life partner? They are tackling that question now. What do you think?
UPDATE Per request, my thoughts: I view this question through a lens of hierarchy. Theoretically any one of us could spend the rest of our lives with anyone else, but, as we all know, some people match up better than others. Therefore, there is one person out there with whom I would match up the best (which does not necessarily correlate to perfectly). Of course, there is probably someone who is a really really really close second, and third, and so on. So, while I believe there is that one perfect person, the pinnacle of compatibility, there are many people that would be amazing partners in life.
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4 comments:
I think there are a bunch of "ones."
The way I think about it is that people change throughout their lives and a person who may be the "one" when you're 15 may not necessarily be the "one" when you're 25...but that doesn't make them any less a "one" for you.
I do feel like there can be a "one" that can never go out of style or become less so as you grow and change. Something like an eternal "one." (Personal note: I feel that's who I've found.)
And I also feel like there are billions of people on this Earth. There has to be more than one person that could fulfill you and qualify as the "one." It just boils down to the one that actually gets to meet you first.
So these are my personal beliefs on the matter, but what does This American Life have to say? Or you, for that matter?
i think 7.
And i've seen it happen where someone has married the love of their life and then lost them. Thankfully they found the second one and got the chance to live happily ever after again.
Both interesting ideas. I think a lot of these views are for the sake of self preservation. It would really suck to think there is only one person and that you're unsure that the person you are with is the one... or, in Margot's example, what happens if your "one" dies?
Jessica: I've never heard anyone put it the way you did, but I thought it was interesting.
Margot: Seven? Are you being facetious or is seven really the number in which you believe?
I kind of think this over-emphasis we put on finding "The One" is part of the reason our divorce rate is so comically/tragically high. The whole concept makes it easier to get a few years in to a marriage and decide meh, I was wrong, not The One, time to move on, and the whole "in good times and in bad" commitment thing gets lost.
I once said something like this in a class and I think I almost got stoned. To clarify, I am not advocating that people remain in marriages that are truly unhealthy, it's just I think people often give up too easily.
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