Everybody, everybody wants to love. Everybody, everybody wants to be loved.

Here's the thing. I'm not necessarily pleased with the state of my dating life (referring to its nonexistence), but I still find joy in the company of pleasant young men who are fun to talk with and be around. Especially this semester, I have learned to truly love my "just friends" relationships with guys. I say "especially this semester," because it is probably the first time I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't have time to date even if those opportunities were to arise. Therefore, the friendships I have formed and nurtured this semester have been fun, for the most part uplifting, and in general, a lot easier than many that I've had in the past.

Don't get me wrong; I have had my fair share of crushes and little flutters of hope that maybe something exciting could happen. But I haven't daydreamed or analyzed or let myself go crazy over too many things. Yes, it's happened occasionally, perhaps once a month or so, but even outside of the relationship realm, I have been working on looking at things objectively and letting go of things that really aren't a big deal. And I feel like I have been quite successful.

Truthfully, I feel like I have grown a lot these past few months because of that. Someday I will have a family of my own and there will be small conflicts and miscommunications that could get in the way of dealing with the things that are really important if I can't take a step back and evaluate the situation with an eternal perspective. It's a skill that is still going to take a lot more practice to hone it down to perfection, but I am happy for the opportunities I'm having to recognize this as a character trait I need to develop.

Anyway, that isn't really where I was going with this. So here goes.

Since I've tried to be more level-headed about boys, I've discovered something. Something I probably should have acknowledged a long time ago. In fact, they should teach it to us in school; that would have really helped me anyway.

You see, there are boys.
And there are girls.
Sure.

But mostly there are just humans. And we are all pretty much looking for the same things. We want success, happiness, friends, family, freedom, fun, and, for the sake of alliteration, french fries. But all in all, I would submit that the thing we want most is love (flove?). We want to love ourselves, we want to love others, and we want that love to be reciprocated. So why all this "boys are stupid" or "I hate girls" mess?

I mean, if I'm going around saying "I hate boys because they are so stupid" all the time, why would I ever expect any guy to want to take on the challenge of proving me wrong? People like happy people, and words like "hate" and "stupid" are not exactly happy words. The truth is, I do not think that boys are stupid at all. Sometimes they do stupid things, verdad. But since when do any of us live a life consisting of only smart or wise actions? I know I have certainly said and done my share of stupid things in regards to dating or . . . whatever.

Bottom line: Girl or boy, stupid or smart, we are constantly learning. Learning how to interact, communicate, interpret communication, etc. So what right would any of us have to expect perfect wisdom (and mind-reading abilities) from another, especially of the opposite sex, unless we, too, have gotten it all figured out? And I promise you that no matter what you think, you do not have it all figured out.

I just wish there were more understanding that calling boys stupid is just going to prime us to thinking that way about any male we meet that says or does something we don't like. I don't plan on husband bashing when I'm married, so why bash on men now?

Men, know that you are awesome!
. . . Then take me out on dates.