As we grow older, we begin to discover the remarkable and twisted ways our bodies react to the extolled and glorified feeling of love. This force, passion and pull not only has caused half the women in the world to max out their credit cards, but has caused great empires to fall, civilizations to rise, and on a more depressing note, lives to burn. This bond that can either place us on cloud nine or send us right through it follows us throughout the many stages of life.
This feeling tends to sweep its victims off their feet, leaving them suffocated and arthritic for every moment they and their Prince Charming breathe in the same air, or even worse, exist on the same planet. Every move and glance resembles a masterpiece in your mind, which then abandons you with the vocabulary of a 2-year-old and the mobility of a newborn. It can make one feel like the last frozen dinner in the supermarket's freezer, frostbitten, rock solid, and far from appetizing, until the moment comes when he decides to give you a little piece of his time. This is when you, Ms. Lean Cuisine, become over-microwaved and transformed into a glob of mush. How on earth is anyone supposed to stay neutral when her Prince Charming spends the night with her, shows her the time of her life and then forsakes her in the morning?
For the past few weeks, circulating rumors and images of Chris Brown and Rihanna's alleged domestic violence not only proved to be more than a tabloid stunt, but showed many some women are trapped in unhealthy and destructive relationships that are not easy to escape. Men like these immediately make women think genuine, long-term potential boyfriends are as endangered as the koala bear. If this is the never-ending cycle of desperation and devastation that keeps rewinding itself, why do so many women fall for charming men who have absolutely nothing to offer them? Could it be a work of Darwin's theory? Do women subconsciously go after the tall, strong, beautiful, well-off men to repopulate the world with more tall, strong, beautiful, well-off children, leaving the nice, smart, genuine, caring men at the bottom of the food chain? It is truly a wonder of the world that will never be figured out.
After spending two years at Miami University, I have been around more than dozens of women who have treaded in a series of bad relationships time after time again. I have tried to unravel this mystery that seems to haunt women through their early years, and sometimes, the rest of their lives.
What is the point of acting like a slave who could be sold at any moment, a bug that could be squashed with one swipe or a snowflake that blew in the direction of the wind? It is so easy for women to be swept away by the men they find truly irresistible, but so hard for them to realize they're worthless. If you're anything like me, you need to rip the reins out of this person's hands and put yourself back on a track that leads far, far away.
After an uncomfortable amount of time without him, you will surely bump into someone who has been dying to meet you. This person does not have rock solid abs, a suave tongue or a nice car, but rather mediocre abs that could always use some work, a slightly awkward tongue that spits out the wrong words every now and then and a car that looks as if it survived the T-Rex attack in Jurassic Park.
The person who you will bump into is no one but yourself. Once you realize the useless amount of hours you spent sobbing and complaining about someone who doesn't respect you the slightest bit, you'll be absolutely seduced by the strong and fearless person you have grown to be. It is time for all women to put themselves on a pedestal and to stop succumbing to those who think they have power and control over them. This way, when the next man comes along, he'll know he has very big, or rather very expensive, shoes to fill.
Chloe Esposito esposic@muohio.edu
