"I'm married, not dead."

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Generally speaking, it's considered poor form to flirt with married persons. However, sometimes, the married persons do generally enjoy occasional flirtations, compliments, or conversations. Hence the "I'm married, not dead." However, I may have to make an appeal for the dead. There's something specifically zombie-esque about any long-term life decision.

Long-term relationships do introduce the idea of conformity to very specific acceptable standards. They're expected to think, react, and be a certain way. The acceptable image attached is very stock, very standard, and fairly uniform regardless of culture. It does seem awfully zombielike. It gets worse for non-relationships. Businesses teach employees to show up to the same places, act the same ways, and perform in perfect consistency. That kind of behavior is very well suited for zombies, especially given the mass of workers in factory jobs or Fortune 500 offices. I'm willing to blame the motivational posters [http://www.topatoco.com/graphics/00000001/qc-think.jpg].

So perhaps it should be "I'm married, and dead."

Discussion Prompt: Agree, disagree? Further thoughts? If dissenting, what would you chalk it up to, instead?

 

[BonsaiK]

That's why school teaches people to be an unquestioning drone - it's preparing people for a lifetime of servitude and institutionalisation. The sad fact is for a few people to lead interesting, rich lives there needs to be a boring infrastructure full of people doing mindless repetitive crap in order to make such activity possible. A ferris wheel that takes you and your significant other on a romantic ride into the sky has to be built, transported, cleaned and maintained by a fair few people.

To this end I play my part - I make sure I flirt with married people whenever I can, and quite a bit more if I can get away with it and they're amenable.

 

[AmbitiousWorm]

If you feel that way about marriage (don't know not married) and work maybe you should rethink what/who (HA) you are doing.

But god, that is one depressing outlook.

 

[jawakiller]

When one gets married, said person dies... The end.

 

[justnotcricket]

Well...in any of these instances, you're only lost of you allow yourself to be.

I'm pretty sure there aren't too many staid, bland, boring, predictable, zombielike situations that you can't get yourself out of by applying a little ingenuity. ;-)

 

[Gxas]

So you're saying that marriage brings out the same in everyone? Like, every married couple will eventually end up with some form of "taco night"? I suppose that I can see where you're coming from, but I have to ask why that doesn't appeal to you?

I would absolutely love that life. I have always looked forward to having a wife and kids to call my family. I want that seemingly mundane lifestyle. I couldn't quite tell you why, though I believe that having a wife has always been one of my top priorities in terms of my future.

 

[Miss_Nel]

I guess it depends on whether you stick to those ideals in the first place.
Just because you decide to make a long-term life decision doesn't mean that the rules never change. It doesn't mean that marriage has to mean the same to you as it does to another person.

Unless you're going by legal standards, in which case, you're screwed.

 

[crudus]

I don't see the problem with flirting with a married person. It is fun. It is just a game like it always has been. The only difference is the intention.

 

[Paksenarrion]

People who complain about being married are closeted whores. Discuss.

 

[lettucethesallad]

I was out at a pub a while back with my roomie, and when she left I found a group of guys that looked like they might be fun and walked over to say hi (I'm bad at making female friends). The first thing the first guy I talk to says is "Hi, I'm XXX and I'm married." and I was rather surprised, as all I'd said was "Hi" and my intention wasn't to try to pick him up. Aren't married people allowed to talk to members of the opposite sex at a bar?

 

[teh lurker]

There's times when I think that, speaking as a married man, that the dead are better off. At this specific point in my life, I can hardly stand to be in the same apartment as my wife, let alone in the same bed. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for her, it's cheaper to keep her rather than trying to go through a divorce.

There's very few things in life that I absolutely cannot tolerate. I can't stand useless people. By useless people, I mean the ones that constantly procrastinate, secure in the knowledge that whatever it was that they were supposed to be doing will be done for them by someone else if they wait long enough. My wife is very good at procrastinating, or at least working at a pace so slow that she may as well not work at all.

Case in point, we had to clean our apartment from one end to the other, since we were having people over. In the time it took me to clean the bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room, she had cleaned half of the bedroom. Then, she complained that she was tired and needed to take a nap. There's times when I want to just change the locks on the front door and tell her to go live with her parents again.

 

[minakorocket]

Not sure. I know that when I worked with a bunch of married men they had this dead look in their eyes. I never made a point to talk to any of them but they would always converse with me when I walked in the door. I smiled, complimented their work, talked about simple things and then carried on my own work.

If married life turns me into what I've seen...

Edit: I said married men because I worked with airplane mechanics. Very male dominated field. Maybe 1 or 2 female mechanics against 8000 male mechanics.

 

[Zaik]

People who complain about being married are closeted whores. Discuss.

Women who consider marrige a woman's right and a man's privilege are future serial killers. Discuss.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Fanciful lies.....marriage IS death. I should know, I'm married.

Zombie-scum!!! Kill It With Fire!

OT: Maybe you married people just aren't quirky enough. If you were quirky, you'd end up with a quirky parnter that likes your quirks. Then you wouldn't have this quirk-less-ness issue.

 

[lacktheknack]

As a product of an incredibly successful marriage, the friend of a marriage councilor's daughter AND a self-help book reader:

If marriage makes you a zombie, YOU'RE DOING IT COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY WRONG! WROOOONG!

 

[latenightapplepie]

Does this mean gay people are immortal?

I knew there had to a reason why some people opposed same-sex marriage.

 

[Illesdan]

My grandmother related a story to me when I was younger, it went like this; my grandparents were out with some of their friends, and one of my grandmother's friends turned to my grandmother and said 'Your husband looked at so-and-so over there!' My grandmother replied, 'Good for him.' When that left the friend speechless, she continued; 'I'd be more worried if he DIDN'T look.'

I always remembered that, and made up my mind whoever I happened to be with couldn't be jealous. Because I'm goona look/flirt, and I expect my partner to be fun enough to do the same. It works for us; we've been married for ten years and never had one single fight. He knows I flirt constantly with my best friend/co-worker; I know he goes online and is a big tease to anyone who'll take it...

Takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

 

[Paksenarrion]

People who complain about being married are closeted whores. Discuss.

Women who consider marrige a woman's right and a man's privilege are future serial killers. Discuss.

What do you mean, "future"?

Men who think they cannot be whores even if they sleep around are future victims of serial killers kidding themselves. Discuss.