The Dilemma

Single.

In a relationship.
Married.  

It’s complicated.

I was staring at the list for the longest time. I never thought that creating a Facebook account would be this difficult. It was like taking an exam with only four options and yet, you don’t know the answer for you failed to review days before. The irony is that there really is no reviewer for this. Everybody just expects you to know the correct answer, but unfortunately for me, I don’t.

Actually, I’ve always wondered about these relationship statuses. If you would think about it, there really is nothing special about them. They are just words which pertain to the current civil status of a person as of the moment. But what really is intriguing about these words is the reason why they are selected by people.

SINGLE

[adj.] not involved in any romantic or sexual relationship

Carl is single. Carl had never actually been in a relationship. He is not ugly or something, it’s just that it’s his personal choice. He decided to stay single after being rejected by the only person whom he loved. Now, he had given up on this aspect of his life and promised himself to just stay single for as long as he could.

IN A RELATIONSHIP

[adj.] the status of being involved in a romantic or sexual relationship

John had been jumping from one relationship to another. It is due to this fact that he never changed his relationship status of being in a relationship. Well, John was never really born with a partner right beside him. It was just that he promised himself to never decline anyone who would court him or let him feel loved after being guilty for rejecting the first guy who ever loved him all his life.

MARRIED

[adj.] relating to or united by marriage

Ralph and Louis are a couple. Well, technically, they consider themselves as married, but due to judicial difficulty, they are not allowed to marry. Both of them maintained their statuses as married and they are not afraid to shout to the world that they are a couple despite the raised eyebrows from most people who see them holding hands while walking in the mall. The only person who truly understood them is their mutual friend who swore to his grave that he’ll stay single for the rest of his life.

IT'S COMPLICATED

[adj.] being involved in many different and confusing aspects of relationship.

Ryan had always been confused of his sexuality. Ever since he was young, he had been suffering from identity crisis issues. Well, he had been known to all people as a straight guy who had always been a blessing to womanhood, but never did they know that he actually secretly wished that one day his prince charming would come and sweep him off his feet. Only one person knew about his dilemma and that was his best friend who never said no to any opportunity of creating a relationship.

Now, as I thought about the complexity of having or not having a relationship, I thought about how everything boils down to the fact that love is not as simple as 1 + 1 = 2. And the entanglement of lives of people have been a great factor as to whether a person would be with someone or not. We are all interconnected in more ways than one and it actually creates a huge difference if you know that somehow, someway you probably know the person sitting right beside you in a bus, or the one standing in line next to you.

Now as I stared at the relationship status blinking in front of my computer screen, I decided to just finish my dilemma and click on the only status which could totally define my current relationship state. Then as I clicked on Save Changes, I finally was able to give a sigh of relief.

It’s complicated.

And that’s that.