I hope no-one will hold it against me me if I blatantly state that today's society is one of convenience: fast food, fast transport, 'time-saving' devices, phones that let you access your e-mail, the newspaper, read books, or even just order a pizza. We are becoming gluttons of convenience (at least in the Western world), unwillingly to wait more than five minutes in a line or for public transport (unless you're in Adelaide, in which case, hope the bus shows up). However, it seems that even in our most intimate of places - the bedroom - convenience is rearing its deceptively stylish head, in the form of One-Night Stands.
The quote that is currently echoing through my head is from Fight Club:
Single-serving sugar, single-serving cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit. Shampoo-conditioner combos, sample-packaged mouthwash, tiny bars of soap. The people I meet on each flight? They're single-serving friends.
What is most important is the 'single-serving friends'. How many people do you know like this? People you start a friendship with, for a day, a week, an hour? I've sat on a plane and talked to someone, and will almost definitely never see them again. Of course, with the growing masses of Facebook, Twitter and (lesser it seems) MySpace, it has become a lot easier to maintain that 'connection' - again, another device of convenience. What is growing more and more prolific, however, is the One-Night Stand. It seems that despite all these time-saving and convenient devices, people are as short of time as ever, so short, in fact, that relationships are unappealing, and instead and physical comfort needed should be garnered from a one-off fling with a total stranger. Now I'm all for sexual exploration, but for something like this to become commonplace just heralds the death of emotional relationships. Maybe it is just the way things are, and with divorce rates worldwide steadily increasing, perhaps it is better not to even put oneself in that situation? The adage, 'It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all' comes to mind here.
Now don't get me wrong; I'm not against ONS, I think in most cases (and indeed, for some people) they can be very healthy, but I do not think they should become a lifestyle. It could be the prude in me (of which there is very little, so when it does speak up I usually take notice), but I fail to see the reward in constantly going to a random house for a more often than not drunken hookup, then slinking off in the morning, sometimes with a phone number, sometimes with nothing more than a name. Note the use of the word 'constantly'.
But as I said, it could just be me. I do, after all, enjoy cuddles a lot.
The quote that is currently echoing through my head is from Fight Club:
Single-serving sugar, single-serving cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit. Shampoo-conditioner combos, sample-packaged mouthwash, tiny bars of soap. The people I meet on each flight? They're single-serving friends.
What is most important is the 'single-serving friends'. How many people do you know like this? People you start a friendship with, for a day, a week, an hour? I've sat on a plane and talked to someone, and will almost definitely never see them again. Of course, with the growing masses of Facebook, Twitter and (lesser it seems) MySpace, it has become a lot easier to maintain that 'connection' - again, another device of convenience. What is growing more and more prolific, however, is the One-Night Stand. It seems that despite all these time-saving and convenient devices, people are as short of time as ever, so short, in fact, that relationships are unappealing, and instead and physical comfort needed should be garnered from a one-off fling with a total stranger. Now I'm all for sexual exploration, but for something like this to become commonplace just heralds the death of emotional relationships. Maybe it is just the way things are, and with divorce rates worldwide steadily increasing, perhaps it is better not to even put oneself in that situation? The adage, 'It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all' comes to mind here.
Now don't get me wrong; I'm not against ONS, I think in most cases (and indeed, for some people) they can be very healthy, but I do not think they should become a lifestyle. It could be the prude in me (of which there is very little, so when it does speak up I usually take notice), but I fail to see the reward in constantly going to a random house for a more often than not drunken hookup, then slinking off in the morning, sometimes with a phone number, sometimes with nothing more than a name. Note the use of the word 'constantly'.
But as I said, it could just be me. I do, after all, enjoy cuddles a lot.
