Relationships, even dating, has changed so much today than in the 60s and 70s. Today, to meet someone we have to resort to technology. Dating websites and matchmakers have taken the place of actual dating. There are some real differences especially in attitude of how men and women date today. Back in the 60s and 70s it wasn’t a big deal to ask a girl out on a date and the next weekend ask a different girl out. Today, that same guy would be seen as a player. Dating during that time also didn’t mean that you were actually ‘dating.’ If two people were serious a girl had to wait to get the guy’s pin. That meat they were a couple. The two were going steady. What worked was that men and women spoke and socialized with each other face-to-face.

The 60s and 70s was a much different time for dating. Relationships weren’t as serious as they are today. If a man or woman didn’t call again in today’s dating world, angry feelings and resentment builds up, till they were no longer speaking to each other again. Unlike the 60s and 70s, relationships weren’t so serious back then, but men and women who were going steady often realized the next step was marriage. I would have to say that in order for the Book of Love to really work, men and women need to focus more on their time together as genuine, as opposed to filling up the time through text and e-mail messages.

Relationships in the 60s and 70s didn’t play the games that we often feel today. Meaning was clear and spoke from the heart. For some, there may even be this automatic thinking right from the start that the search is finally over, but in reality relationships are about getting to know a person. It means quality not the quantity of time. Too often I’ve seen relationships take five or ten years before deciding on deciding to stay in a relationship. The truth is, if it’s meant to be then all of those years could be already spent having said those lifetime vows. I think that there’s a reason for why so many relationships spark or fade after three years together. At that moment, it’s then that people actually got married. As the lyrics of the song Book of Love says: “Chapter One says to love her. You love her with all your heart, In Chapter Two you tell her you’re never, never, never, never, never gonna part, In Chapter Three remember the meaning of romance. In Chapter Four you break up, but you give her just one more chance.” I wonder when it got so complicated. Perhaps we need to go back to the relationships of the 60s and 70s and start living by the Book of Love.