Lesson 2: What they thought they taught us about romance
Hookups, DM’s, Snapchats and drunk texts have taken over they way this generation “falls in love”. What have we succumbed to? We all indulge into this state of mind where no one actually FEELS anything any more. What happened to us?
The boy outside your house late at night throwing rocks at your window doesn’t exist anymore. Instead we receive texts that say “here” or just a snapchat that so hauntingly reads “hang?”. No I don’t want to come over and coldly lay on your couch for five minutes before the inevitable. I want you to ask me about the simple things that make my day and what my favorite shade of blue is. Why do we allow ourselves to be so out of touch with everything you are supposed to feel when invested in such an intimate act? Love isn’t a word that this generation can or is willing to understand. It is used so freely it has lost all connotation to its true definition.
Our parents told us about high school, about how they went to the drive in movies after school on friday or how they sat at the local ice cream diner and shared a chocolate shake. They didn’t Netflix and chill or get a text message from a very intoxicated boy at 2 a.m. It was all very real for our parents, they got to actually experience people and learn things about their significant others. I don’t want a relationship based off of a DM that says some ridiculous catch phrase, like “diving in… you cute”. I want a hand written note asking me on a date. I want a cute boy to show up at my door step, ring my doorbell, and introduce himself to my mom.
Drunk texts are the epitome of this generation. Boy do we like to mess up relationships because our blood alcohol level is way past the point of legal. You know how people say nothing good happens after midnight.. ? well I couldn’t agree more. This is the time of night when we start to think that because of what we have ingested into their system, it is okay to text whomever we want for a “hook up”. That is no way to treat yourself. Putting yourself in these positions deteriorates your self worth and how can anyone begin to love you when you can’t even begin to love yourself? Trust me I know how hard it is to believe in your self worth when you aren’t being treated with respect. It’s hard to know how special your body is when you are influenced by someone’s words. It’s hard to see that you deserve so much more when you are caught up in a “relationship”. Let’s be honest here they don’t want anything to do with you unless it’s the middle of the night. Not. worth. It.
I would like to think that if we all started to change our mindset we could live up to the expectations our parents have for us. If we don’t stop the epidemic of snapchat relationships what will be the future for our kids? Do you think our parents want to know that we don’t fall in love with people anymore, just with their bodies? I want to be able to tell my mom that I’m going on a date with someone I genuinely have feelings for, but that I will be home right after dinner because “he’s not like the other boys”. I don’t want to cry to her anymore because my body is being Used. Stop snapping, stop dming, stop drunk texting. Start opening up to people, start saying no to people who only want you for your body, start respecting yourself. Most importantly… start learning how to fall in love. Let’s look up to our grandparents and parents and try and to recreate the love that we know they have. Let’s use these examples to reinforce the real definition of love and spend the rest of our life living a romance.