Call Me Crazy

I am publicly answering "Deep End's" blog. You know who you are, but I don't really have your permission to use your name. and Please, no jokes about "Deep Throat".

Deep End wrote about how women let men treat them. I am not saying you are wrong-from conversations with fellow women, I know it happens that women tend to be the ones who suffer with the bullshit while men seem to go on their merry way. And further, you are absolutely right that you have to love yourself before you can have a healthy relationship with someone else. AND, we shouldn't be relying on men to be our saviors.
But let me throw this curve ball in. Some women do the same thing to men-the mind games, the emasculation, the rudeness. Although granted statistically, it is the other way around and women suffer.
What it comes down to, is that, regardless if you are male or female, dating the opposite sex or same sex, we should be teaching our children how to have healthy relationships. We should be teaching our children to strive for self-success, AND then find someone who loves and supports who they are as a human being. That no matter who they find, or how many people they find, NO ONE will know them like they no themselves. Yikes-sounds like tongue twister.
This isn't hard. Relationships are hard, but healthy ones aren't that difficult. Ask for respect, give respect, and accept yourself.
I know this, because I am this. I never set out to get married, or stay single. I figured I would be single because book loving, politic talking, geeky girls are not in hot demand, and I wasn't marrying for marriage's sake. I refused to spend the rest of my life with some jerk just to have a ring on my finger. This isn't some feminist rhetoric. I want to teach my sons the same thing. I want them to know that marriage is but one option for them, but that happiness is required. It sure makes the bumps and bruises of life go a lot smoother. Besides, if I raise my sons to seek healthy relationships, the chances that they will enter a relationship with a healthy person are much higher, ergo bringing them more happiness.
It isn't just a women's issue after all.