Many fish in the sea

By Nicholas Weiss

American society has made St. Valentine's Day as unavoidable as awkward commercials on Comedy Central after 10 o'clock. Even I, despite my single status, was affected by the holiday this past weekend. I opted not to go out for brunch, for instance, to avoid the crowds. And, of course, I also opted to write this small reflection.

Right about this time of year everybody is talking about soul mates and finding "the one." But to me all this Match.com talk is horribly depressing.

I don't say this out of bitterness, or some hyper-sensitive "I don't need anyone else to make me happy" hermit mentality. I say this because I am a romantic.

Just think about this so-called romantic theory: there is one person in the world -- yes, just one -- who can make you happy and until you find him or her, your movie isn't over and your life isn't complete.

I don't understand how anyone can really enjoy love if they are always looking over their shoulder for that magical someone. Since there is no true love indicator, I don't know how you're supposed to know once you've found them. It sounds exhausting. I think fairy-tale romances are the reason why divorce rates are so high.

I prefer to think that instead of one person out of however many billions in the world, there are several girls out there for me. Not that I would want or need more than one girl, but just from a statistical possibility standpoint, it's much more comforting to believe that there are a few more options out there. I'm not so conceited as to think that there is only one person in the entire world who is good enough for me.

Only by finding a person to love -- as opposed to the person to love -- can someone truly enjoy this romantic holiday. And only by killing the romantic ideal, can real romance exist.

Nicholas Weiss is a junior psychology and philosophy double major.