Friends With Benefits

Okay, I have to admit that I’m not very smart but I do catch on quick.

It was just a few days ago that I saw the term friends with benefits in a newspaper advice column. Without elaboration I figured out fairly quick what the term meant and what the benefits are.

If I watched TV I probably would have heard the term sooner but I won’t let that be a tipping point in changing what I do with my eyes and time.

So imagine my surprise when I’m reading through the Rocky Mountain News last night (Valentine's Day) and I see a full page ad by Virgin Mobile advocating such an arrangement.

By the way, what the term means is that you get sex and don’t need a relationship, commitment or any of those unpleasant things.

So anyway, here is this ad advertising a cell phone without a commitment and basically advocating sex without commitment. Virgin Mobile must know who they are advertising to. I guess it’s probably the same demographic that shops at Abercrombie & Fitch with their sexually loaded advertising. One thing I know for sure is they won’t get any of my money.

What I really wanted to point out on all this is what a lie this kind of idea is. I would call it the consequences of friends with benefits. Bad things will happen even if people try to convince themselves otherwise.

Here are some of the problems I can think of:

broken hearts
dead babies from abortion
sexually transmitted disease
ghosts of this encounter in all future relationships
depression
loneliness
selfishness
lack of true intimacy
etc.

It makes me sad to know that so many people are being ripped off by this kind of thinking and living. We were made to be one man and one woman for a lifetime. The alternatives always come up empty except for their bad consequences.

Philip