Affection
3 December 2016
It’s hard to dispute the fact that people, these days, seem to spend less time together.
This applies not only in terms of when they are in a relationship—when the respective spouses may well be out working all week and busy with, say, sport or other activities at the weekend—but also when couples, after a relatively short period together, seem to split up far more easily than they did years ago!
In the old days, people just seemed to stay together longer, through good times and bad but, of late, I have lost count of the number of friends, relations and clients in their late 20’s, 30’s or slightly older who are either in and out of relationships or have simply declared that they “have had enough” of all of the challenges, trials and tribulations that go with a regular partner and are opting for a single life.
I can also see in some of the couples I do know who remain together that the initial euphoria, the initial joy, of meeting “Mr or Miss Right”, the potential partner for life, is no longer there; the individuals in question spend a lot of their time with their own interests, whether it be on the computer or their iPhone playing games, or watching their favourite TV show or generally getting on with whatever interests them.
Modern society at work, I guess.
Yet, when I think about things more deeply, or when I talk to my clients over dinner, I realise that, over the years, nothing has really changed. Yes, society has moved on; the pace of life is faster and, apparently, more stressful despite the appliances, the gadgets and all the accessories which are supposed to make our life easier.
But the base needs of people remain the same, for you and I, and everyone else!
Fundamentally, people need people. They need them to care for them, give them attention; talk to them. Hold and comfort them when the need arises. Give them love and respect; be there for them when there is a crisis; help them through the bad times; share with them the good times and so on.
Nothing new there, right?
One problem is, though, that in our modern society almost everyone is looking out for themselves—and, perhaps, sadly, not so much others. “Compassion” and “caring” seem to have dwindled in an inverse proportion to the increase in the rigours of daily life; people quite simply no longer interact with others to the same degree as they used to.
Somehow, somewhere we need to start resurrecting the “two C’s” I mentioned in the paragraph above, and I’m sure society will become an even better place!
