It Runs Faster and It Runs Further!

Girls always want the strongest, or the fastest, or the most spiritual. Guys always want the smartest, the most beautiful, or the best kisser. We always want the -est.

We look for someone that is the best in one way or another to be with. They are valued greater by those around them than the lesser achievers. By gaining the attention of said person we feel like something has been achieved in ourselves to make us that much better.

Yet this doesn't simply apply to dating relationships, those that appear great in the social eye have done something to raise themselves up on a pedestal, they where the -est at something.

Jack Be Nimble Jack Be Quick

Bass is one of those guys that has never really LIKED a girl. Sure there are a number of young ladies that can easily catch his attention, but none of them have been able to hold it. So it has really come as no surprise talking with him about Evergreen. For one reason or another Bass just isn't ready to get into a relationship with her. . . at least that's how it was until Dam came around.

Evergreen and Dam where beginning to get a little interested in each other and as Bass sat back and watched he began to ponder to himself (and to me.) "If a guy like Dam is interested in Evergreen then why shouldn't I be interested in Evergreen?"

Why are people so afraid of testing the waters? Especially in situations like Bass and Evergreen where they've known each other for at least four years? Is it really so difficult for people to simply talk it over and decide they're just better off as friends? Now I realize that phrase has some horrible connotations to it, but really if everyone can be an adult about it and accept things it's not that bad.

I've been told a number of times that I'm pretty simple minded :-) but it sure does make life easier. Complications just never seem to make people happy.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Tree

We know the story about the girl who hears her lover has been called off to war. After a long kiss good-bye the boy in uniform gets on the train and the girl waits for the man to return.

In the Mormon culture there is much the same scenario. It is common for an LDS boy to leave on a mission around the age of 19 and then he's gone for two years. He could be going only a few thousand miles away or maybe to the other side of the world. It makes little difference, he is gone and she is waiting for the man to return.

When a missionary leaves a girlfriend at home there is the possibility that she might get taken up by another man that has already gotten home. (It isn't too often that she gets taken by one that has yet to leave on his own mission.) It works out to be a bit of a gamble. "Does she love me enough to wait the full two years?" "Will other guys try and date, and after a little success she'll decide that I'm better?" Once the boy leaves the only control he has over the matter is to send letters regularly, whereas the men still at home still have direct contact. Dear John's are a common occurrence out in the mission field and it becomes a time of sorrow for the missionary (and a time of celebration for his companion because now he'll actually get to work!)

It is a constant battle between the boys and the men about who gains and who loses. The most ridiculous part of it all is that the girls simply reap the rewards one way or the other :D