Opposition to Opposites.

Opposites attract. I know this. Everyone knows this. The problem with this mantra is that it is all too often employed as an excuse for two people of the opposite sex who probably can’t stand each other to pointlessly pursue meaning. Think of if you took two people you know who share very few interests with each other and you introduced them. According to this grand theory, they would instantly be attracted to each other (does this make any sense at all?). Let’s humor ourselves and say they are legitimately attracted to each other and begin to spend time together. How long does this attraction last until one has had enough of the other’s seemingly appalling interests and can bear no more?

Some people think that people act like magnets. You place opposing magnets together and they stick together. Forever. What most people are not aware of, however, is Newton’s Law of Reverse Magnetic Repulsion. You see, though opposites initially attract each other, the energy needed to perpetually bind these two opposites eventually exhausts and results in the opposites repelling each other. So the saying really should be “opposites attract, then repel.” This makes much more sense to me, especially in terms of people.

…….Ok, so maybe that last paragraph was complete bullshit and there’s no such thing as reverse magnetic repulsion. But there should be a principle like this, right? After the initial attraction, the differences between the two sides become increasingly apparent until this collection of oppositions proves intolerable. Upon this realization, I decided to disregard any of my urges to pursue someone who I had a 95% chance of eventually loathing.

Sadly, with most people, the idea of opposites repelling after an initial spark means the more you know about a person the less you are going to like them. Is it perhaps better to preserve this preliminary attraction to someone by taking pains to avoid knowing them? You probably thought he/she was great until you realized you fundamentally disagree on what to do with your lives or that you discovered what was to you their fatal flaw. Life is all a series of disappointments and one day, you pick a life that has disappointed you the least and resign yourself to that.

The trick is to realize how mediocre this world truly is. Living behind the distortions of optimism will only lead to more innocence shattering moments that should have all occurred as a child. Once one truly believes that they possess the divinity to change someone they wholly solidify their inevitable failure. You will never be able to change someone, so what is the point in starting with someone you know you would want to change things about?

Opposites don’t attract. They hate each other.