{"id":17,"date":"2009-08-17T09:55:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-17T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2link.ca\/blog\/2009\/08\/17\/meharmony\/"},"modified":"2009-08-17T09:55:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-17T14:55:29","slug":"meharmony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.2link.ca\/newblog\/2009\/08\/17\/meharmony\/","title":{"rendered":"MeHarmony"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just joined the famous dating\/matching website. It took me through a very meticulous questionnaire and I like it thinking, like everybody else that this is a sign of seriousness. It was my second attempt. First time, I had filled the form late in the night going to extremes: either a feature was very important for me, or not important at all\u2026 in the end they announced me that they have no match for me, that I should not feel bad, because 1 in 5 people get this result. Of course I felt bad (and since I met other people who got the same answer and they felt bad too) but then I laughed at it, thinking: \u201cOMG, I am really bad if even eHarmony rejects me\u2026 but that means I am special<\/em>\u201d.
\nI called it MeHarmony after a fake commercial on SNL that was suggesting that what people are looking for and finding is a duplicate of them in the opposite sex. While I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s the case, I noticed that in profiles listed on other dating websites that it is true: people look not to be completed and balanced by the partner but a totally identical image of themselves. This, now I realize, is another argument to my main point of this post: eHarmony, while very good in its intentions, is based on an assumption that is generally false\u2026 and no matter who good their process is from that point forward, the result will be tainted.
\nMeHarmony process could match people but only if they would be honest. Users are being told that there is no right or wrong so they should answer honestly. Most of them truly BELIEVE <\/strong>that they are being honest. From my experience though, people cannot be honest for a simple reason: being honest would mean that they know and accept that they have defects, some being big ones. No matter what is being told, introspection to know oneself and accepting the conclusions, no matter how unfavorable they might for one is not something people do. People want to feel good about them even when they have no real reasons. They are so desperate to believe that they are intelligent, kind, generous, patient that they lie, mostly to themselves. And what a better lie is there but the one you honestly believe to be the truth?! Once you managed to fool yourself, automatically you will be able to fool everyone else, especially and automated system like the one eHarmony makes available.
\nI remember that when I was a kid and got a bad grade or needed to hide something from my parents, I would cycle in my mind tens or even hundreds of time the lie\u2026 until that would somewhat make it true in my mind \u2013 with details and ramifications, just like the truth. I remember I saw killers that were proven without a shadow of a doubt, still denying any involvement and taking the truth even beyond the grave \u2013 and I believe they are convinced that it is the truth they speak. I know people who spend themselves silly, every penny, are in deep debt but still continue to argue that they are savvy people because they drive 10 km to save 2$ on an item. I know people who eat themselves to death but then say \u201cI am eating so little and I still cannot lose weight<\/em>\u201d.
\nI always process information from stories seen or read and I identify myself with one character or another one \u2013 and to myself it doesn\u2019t matter if that character is good or bad. At the same time, I had the chance (?) to share with somebody a documentary about OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).. The person had pretty much all the symptoms displayed by the focus of the documentary. After a few days, putting a little bit of distance from the fresh emotions, I asked the person if she can identify herself with that character\u2026 and to my surprise and hers \u2013 I could read that in her wide-open eyes \u2013 she said \u201cThere is no resemblance between me and that person\u201d. I was flabbergasted and only then I realized how far people will go to avoid accepting their flaws.
\nWhat are my flaws? Oh, quite a few and I described them clearly on eHarmony questionnaire. I have short patience \u2013 I trained it and I provide signs that it\u2019s running out, but it\u2019s still shorter that the average. I need a partner who can be honest and when they made a mistake can admit it so we can discuss how we can avoid it in the future (even by not doing a thing one doesn\u2019t have the aptitudes to do it). It\u2019s not easy to admit you are wrong but I taught myself to do the very same thing. I am focused and I need my space now and then, so clinging to me and calling me every 1h at work will make me run out of patience. I am not kind and I sometimes tell the truth (it\u2019s better than years back when I would always tell the truth, required or not, delicate but mostly not) \u2013 now I fought with myself and, unless you really annoy me, even when I say it I try to adopt a form less aggressive. I don\u2019t like surprises \u2013 good or bad\u2026 sounds crazy not to like good surprises, eh? That is because I go by planning and when plans are broken that doesn\u2019t make me feel good, so I need some time for adjustment in my mind, for realization that it\u2019s good, that we can work it out. If my nerves are tried out by someone, after a while, I end up saying extremely hurtful things which, sometimes, might be the truth but are still hurtful and the choice of words can hit hard people. It\u2019s after a while and only if I am being poked hard. I don\u2019t suffer criticism if it\u2019s \u201cin your face<\/em>\u201d (one might say I can\u2019t swallow my own medicine) but if there is merit, when I calm down I will acknowledge not only by deed but by words as well the truth of that criticism.
\nWell, the previous paragraph could be seen as an argument to what I was saying \u2013 I find myself excuses for all my flaws. I believe that they are not excuses but that they are true, the result of many years of finding out my flaws and working on them\u2026 but then again, maybe I am lying to myself so well that I have no chance in knowing the truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just joined the famous dating\/matching website. It took me through a very meticulous questionnaire and I like it thinking, like everybody else that this is a sign of seriousness. It was my second attempt. First time, I had filled the form late in the night going to extremes: either a feature was very important…<\/span><\/p>\n

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