I have some grievances. Well, maybe just one. I’m not really a fan of the Hillsdale Dating Culture Spectrum. You’ve got the ring-by-spring crazies on the one end and the casual daters who expect sex from a relationship on the other. Where’s the middle at this school? It’s here, it’s just hiding. I’m talking about people whose ideal is a person with whom they can grow and spend time with while maintaining their dignity and God’s approval.
The problem is they haven’t found that here at Hillsdale, at least not yet. This endangered species spends their time navigating through a variety pack of signals trying to keep from giving or attracting the wrong attention. Why? Because everyone they encounter is on one end of the spectrum or the other.
Don’t cuddle with someone at a movie, they might think you’re in love with them. Don’t wear revealing clothing, they might think you put out. You walked someone home. Great, now everyone is going to want to know when the wedding is. You stayed up late studying with someone. Really it was just studying.
With these thoughts occupying your mind, you can become cynical about dating anyone.
There are a couple fixes to this. You can find someone awesome who fits the bill. Or you can look to the other glimmer of hope: that there is life after Hillsdale.
It may be hard to look outside the bubble we have here, but there are places beyond this campus that offer people worth our time who share our interests and beliefs. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t all there is. We’re not going to implode if we don’t have a ring by spring. What we will do is go off into the world ready to make an impact with the lessons we learned here and, in the course of being awesome post-college, we’ll find someone. We might find our life partner right off or we may get to know some other awesome people before we find “the one.”
The fact of the matter is that right now there are people on campus who identify with this article and while we’re navigating our walks on God’s path for us, we can take comfort in knowing we’re not crazy and we’re not alone.