Saturday 17 October 2009

Love’s Not A Competition And I’m Still Not Winning

I’ve decided recently that instead of staring out the window blankly whilst I’m on the bus, that I’m going to use this as an inspiration for writing blog posts and texting them as ‘drafts’ on my phone. God, I need a blackberry.

There was a couple of in front of me today, canoodling. My stomach turned as they gazed into each others eyes longingly, whispering to each other and kissing – giggling and blushing like school children. They only stopped when they received hard stares from real school children who were passengers on the bus and unwilling spectators to their public displays of affection – including myself.

Am I jealous of this couple? Well, slightly. Probably. Both professionals. The guy is blue eyed and tall, very lean and donning an Armani suit. The woman tugging the pricy jacket is similarly gorgeous. Long blond hair caresses her shoulders and it shines in the light. Birds of a feather flock together? Indeed. This is one good looking couple. A literal survival of the fittest.

Economists (I recently thought about this topic when I read the Logic of Life) say that it is definitely more likely that we will marry someone who is similar to us. Similar in what way? It seems that race is the answer to this question. What happens if we were to look at the phenomenon with black African American men and women? 43% of Black women in America – never get married. An alarming statistic! These statistics show that culture plays a massive part. More women than men are getting into higher education – particularly black men. So where are all the black men? Prison. A shocking number on are sentenced to eternal holidays at the steel hotel. A shocking number avoid jail but also avoid college or a decent standard of education. If you are a black man in America with a college degree and you manage steer clear of jail. You can have an astonishing amount of bargaining power, (being a bit of a ‘’geek’’ can work in your favour in this case, I guess!), meaning that these profession black men in America choose not to get married. These cycles begin to repeat themselves, and as a result a cultural thing in Black America is to stay unmarried.

What does this mean for me? I’m English for one, so I’m hoping that we won’t follow the Americans into this trap although it looks likely when you look at the crime figures. I could always decide to marry another race, or rely on probability, of which the law of attraction does not always adhere to. All my experience of romance are fuelled my slightly irrational, hormonal teenage brain rather than the rational thinking of an economist.

The couple get off the bus now; Miss Blonde grips his hand as they glide through the hoard of school children refusing to move. As I predicted they get off at the station, running to catch their train. They look like they earn a bit maybe one day their salaries will be nice enough for a white wedding?




Currently Listening To: Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand

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