We've all heard that saying. It's something your grandma said when your grandpa did something that she didn't necessarily approve of. It was what we all saw in Richard Gere's eyes when he fell for a prostitute in Pretty Woman. As a matter of fact, almost every romantic comedy ever made seems to begin on these grounds. The cool high school jock falls for the hapless and messy nerd. The two good looking characters arguing about everything at the beginning of the movie are almost guaranteed to find something in each other that they just can't live without.
It's an interesting theme that runs throughout a lot of our popular fiction. But beyond fiction, it turns out we all really buy into this notion. According to a poll conducted on a popular internet dating site, 87.5% of human daters claim that they'd like to find a partner with opposite personality traits than their own. It seems that we really like to believe that we're capable of daily conflict resolution and grasping onto whatever small common ground we can find. Am I the only person who finds this kind of behavior absolutely insane?
Okay, I'll admit it. There's some personal inspiration for this post, as there usually is. I briefly met a dude at my local coffee shop about a week ago. We exchanged a few words, and he drove off in an awesome blue green Jeep with no wind shield. He seemed adventurous, mountainous, and like the kind of Denver dude that I would love to get to know more about.
We saw each other a few other times, but today was the first time that I had the opportunity to chat with him. It's hilarious how little we had in common. We started to click at first, but there was no denying that we were on two opposite sides of the spectrum. He's a jaded cynic. I'm more of a happy go lucky optimist. I'm into bare bones travel. His idea of adventure probably involves indoor plumbing.
It’s been interesting to say the least. He shuddered when I said I shaved my legs “every once in awhile.” I almost gagged when he said, “I wasn’t an arms dealer, but I dealt with arms.” The granola loving hippie falls for the coffee shop capitalist. Probably not. But it got my mind wandering around this idea and I started doing the research. Hooking up with the Bizzaro version of yourself seems to be one of the dumbest things you could do with your dating life.
Do you still believe that opposites attract?
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