The undignified approach

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I'm afraid I've come to the conclusion that modern life is not conducive to preserving one's dignity. I base this statement on evidence from two separate areas of my life where any semblance of dignity has been depleted by the demands of said areas: romance and work.

When you're single (and I think most of the people I've spoken to here are in some kind of relationship), companionship is a premium, something that compels you to depart far away from your comfort zone in order to satisfy. To meet a girl, you have to dress up in a certain way that says a certain something about you, something you're hoping to project. You then have to go out to a certain location that best supports whatever it is you're trying to project and look for someone there. It's a charade, a play, an improvised dance that we have to go through in order to be successful and warrant a place by someone's side.

Work is the same way: you have to pretend to be genuinely interested in what you do, otherwise the words 'lacking enthusiasm' will appear on your next evaluation. You have to greet your bosses with flowers and smiles, and you have to pretend to be delighted about a certain opportunity or assignment handed to you. We all hate people who brown-nose like this, but we all do it to a certain extent. Because we all know that work, no matter how benign, is still high school, where the popular kids rise faster and bullies actually have the power to hurt you financially. No matter what you think of the game, you still need to play it.

I know some people say they 'love' their jobs but I think that's an inappropriate use of the word. You may not hate it (which is the most we can expect) but you certainly don't love it and if you do, you don't know what love is. I know for a fact that if ten people won the lottery, ten people would quit their jobs over the next six months. Ten out of ten.

My (labored, decidedly rambling) point is that all this comes at the expense of dignity. Why should I do the whole little dance in order to assure some girl that I'm someone worthwhile. I mean, it just feels like I'm constantly performing for the benefit of standing out from the crowded flock and getting ahead in work or romance (getting head?). I know those are the rules of the game you need to meet women and be successful at work but..it's..so..lame.

In the words of the Scissor Sisters, "I don't feel like dancing".