Dating

Years ago my high school pal Chuck Barris created a show for television called “The Dating Game'. Barris' format for the program was basically simple. But then again dating itself was basically simple a half century ago.

Fast forward to dating in the year 2013 where both life and love have grown more complicated. Don't despair however, the outlook is not all doom and gloom. As long as you can access the Internet, adventure is right at the end of your finger tips with countless opportunities to link up. Dating services are a huge portion of TV advertising featuring tailored categories for one and all.  eHarmony is big here as elsewhere but if you want to target a specific demographic group there's no problem. We have Christian Mingle, our Jewish friends can access J Date, the list includes Black People Meet, Asian Dating, Amigos, Gay Dating, Seniors Dating (not to be confused with “Our Time for Singles over 50” or “Professional Singles over 40”. )

While my roommate and I have zilch interest in dating ourselves, we do have an array of eligible sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters on the active bachelor/bachelorette rosters. So as senior consultants it's prudent for us to stay current on people-meeting-people. The very thought of our Loved Ones constantly prowling the bars in search of Mr/Ms Right is a depressing thought for us as well as for them. Dating services are not infallible but they do provide a certain sense of controlling one's own destiny. Now you can have more going for you than just Aunt Marion's word that “she has a lot of personality” or your teammate at work saying that “he's more than your average computer guy.”

Still, at least for us, it's certainly better to be observing rather than playing today's dating game.