Men vs. Women -- FIGHT!

As if the differences God gave us -- and the craziness of our culture and times -- wasn't enough, cordial relations between young Catholic men and women have to suffer the onslaughts of idiots and mouth-breathing cretins from time to time as well.

This morning I saw the following post in my Facebook timeline:

"If girls that come from Traditional Catholic families were as great as they think they are, they'd all be married."

I don't envy the position of young traditional Catholic women today.  For the most part the prospects of those called to marriage suck. There are so few financially established young men who are looking to marry that they pretty much have their run of the field in selecting a potential wife. (Of course a guy in that position is established in more than his finances... he's more selfish and insistent on getting his way than he realizes but marriage will awaken him to this reality in short order.)

I will grant that some -- not all, but SOME -- young Catholic women, if they aren't married by 23, develop a bitter resentfulness that they were made to wait for their man to come along when they "should have been married and having babies" for the last five years. This is a very unattractive attitude and I know of one guy (who was closer to 30 than 25) who dated (and later married) a 19 year old girl "because she didn't have the 'why am I still single?' bitterness that the 25 year old women in the parish have."

That said, there are issues on both sides of this gender debate (because Original Sin, duh!) and any man who has the audacity to blame the women for his plight in not finding the perfect wife is an idiot and a jerk.  And if he has the audacity to say something like the quote above, either on Facebook or in real life, you women should be THANKFUL that he's unmasked himself as an unworthy loser... he just saved you the trouble of having to date/court him (or worse yet, marry him!) before learning his true colors (mostly yellow, but I digress).

If you're still reading this, dear boys and girls, and you get nothing else from this little article, memorize the following: if you do manage to find that elusive "perfect dream spouse" then don't forget that marriage is a vocation undertaken in the shadow of the Cross of Christ Crucified, and it's going to royally suck at times.  Marriage is a VOCATION and it is how worldly idiots like us are purged of our attachments, vanities, and selfishness and converted into Saints.  Make no mistake: even the best marriages are like purgatory on earth at times: seize those opportunities to get your purgatory done now rather than later... and another secret if you're inclined to listen: if you can handle those times with good humor and a smile while helping your spouse during those hard times then your spouse will think all the more highly of you and do their utmost to be their best for you (it's something called a win-win: look it up).

The only other advice I would give dating/courting couples (aside from "courtship is overrated") is to find someone who laughs and can make you laugh, because that will make the hard times so much easier to take.