Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Five Year Old Perspective On The Shidduch Crisis

The "Shidduch Crisis" has become one of the favorite discussion topics of our generation. A week can't go by without an article or letter in one of the heimishe papers, proclaiming new dimensions to the crisis, or suggesting yet another ridiculous solution to this monumental problem.

Everywhere you go, everyone knows: girls aren't getting dates. Boys are inundated. People are simply not getting engaged. Life is terrible.

Oh wait, it's no so terrible! It's just that we can't possibly be anything less than miserable if we are (lo aleinu) single. So it had become a crisis, and it's affecting people at younger and younger ages.

When I was little, I knew nothing about dating. How would I? None of my siblings had reached that stage yet! I remember my oldest sister's first date. I was sure she was the coolest person ever, and had a hard time not telling all my friends how cool she was. But that initial naivete was something nice, something I wish children nowadays would get to experience.

But no, today's children are putting their young minds to work, trying to find a solution to the epic crisis that is threatening to destroy the foundations of our society. And even worse, children today are horribly concerned about their shidduch chances. Which reminds me of the story that brought all of this to mind.

My friend told me that her little brother, a sweet five year old boy, came inside from playing. She noticed that he had a worried expression on his face, and inquired what the problem was. His answer stunned me. "How am I ever going to find a girl to marry if I never find anyone by hide and go seek?"

Poor kid, five years old and devoid of the most basic innocence.

10 comments:

Freeda said...

Wow, not sure whether to laugh or cry... guess I'll do both...so cute yet so sad.

Dude with hat (aka BTS) said...

You were memed

smb said...

I agree, it's cute and sad

when I was a kid, I was also concerned about people not being interested in me. But I have be pleasently surprised that they are Baruch Hashem

halfshared said...

Na, you made that up!
I'm trying to imagine my 5 year old nephew saying that. Never in a million years. Then again, he doesn't have any sisters dating although I do distinctly remember a time when my then five or six year old nephew asked me if I have a date.

You can be sure that I didn't even know what a date was until I was at least double that age.

Something Different said...

Freeda- Yeah, tis sad...

SOTS and BTS- LOL couldn't you think of a nice thing to say about the post??

LVNSM- That's good! But its sad that you worried as a kid...

HS- How dare you accuse me?? I did NOT make that up! My friend told me the story. If it was made up, she made it up, though I doubt she did...

Dude with hat (aka BTS) said...

No, because i haven't read few previous posts yet - i don't want to break the order. And at that time of day I am not very comentative either

chanie said...

tagged you!

(cute story, btw. made me laugh...)

thinking out loud said...

hey maybe i should ask my parents if I was bad at hide and seek when i was five. that might give us a clue about a thing or two ;)

Something Different said...

BTS- Shame on you! What are you waiting for??

Chanie- Sigh. At least you had something nice to say about the post...

TOL- Yeah, a lot of things. :-P
Sigh. If only life were that easy...

Dude with hat (aka BTS) said...

Well I've read it now since it loos like everyone is talking about your hilarious post! It's funny - but what about boys self esteem?