Last night I hit the town with a pair of European bachelors. I was extremely curious, in an armchair anthropologist sort of way, about this curious species I have often poked fun of...in perhaps an ethnocentric and uncalled for kind of way. Now, I know two subjects are not exactly the makings of a rigorous study...but I was very curious nonetheless. I figured it could only serve to cut down on my snide remarks about Western Europeans men and their lifestyle...but I was wrong.
Unfortuntely, these men confirmed most of the stereotypes I had cooked up in my mind. At one point a woman about 25 years younger than them brushed by, and they tried to pick her up. I was so amazed at their confidence. I want to see their psychologists. Good for them...but unfortunately, BAAAD for them...the rest of the room was laughing at them. The woman was laughing at them. The woman's friend was laughing at them. I was laughing at them. I think even stray dogs were laughing at them. They were too busy trying to look cool to notice why everyone was so suddenly jolly. People who try to look cool even in their thirties often end up looking like sad losers who can't let go of adolescence. People who try to look cool after fourty are usually just downright pathetic. The people who are in fact very cool at any age are those who are actually comfortable in their skin, even if it is wrinkled. The more the pair I watched tried to assert that they were young, hip and vivacious; the more they seemed old, boring and tired. Likewise the more they asserted they really understood women, the more it became apparent they knew too little to even keep long term relationships.
I began to feel badly for these chaps. But I wondered if this was based on false assumptions. I assume they must be miserable deep down inside; but probably they are happier than I know. For them life is a big bachelor party, and they are living each day to the fullest. I do wonder how they will deal when they wake up with a health problem, and no one is there to care for them...but anyone could find themselves in this situation.
This situation seems extremely relevant in light of recent promising advances in fertility treatment. We are probably 10 years away from being able to make eggs and sperm from anyone's stem cells. So the famous female biological clock will be not just altered, but shattered to pieces if everything goes well in some sort of femenist fantasy sort of way...though it probably will not. But the thought experiment is engaging. What if everyone wanted to push parenthood off until retirement? What of the poor children...and what of us if we can't catch them as they run away from our hairy wrinkled selves? Just because we can work towards this change- should we? Or will we all become like those two delusional bachelors, keeping hope of capturing one young half for a pair in spite of the improbability of this reality plainly in sight of even their ever decreasing vision?
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