The Purpose Of Dating

In this segment I will include my last English 101 essay. It had to be a persausive essay and due to the lack of ideas, I decided to do it on the true purpose of dating, hence the title for this post. I know its not all that great (it is definitely a mediocre essay) but it does have elements within it that I like and in this class getting an "A" is extremely difficult. I have yet to get one and, after talking with my friend who also took my teacher's class, I found out that he only got one "A" for his essay. That essay was an exceptional one too. I'm going to see if he'll post it on his blog cause it was really good. But I digress... anyways, here's the essay. Feel free to comment upon it and your own views in regards to dating.

The Purpose of Dating

I believe that people have strayed from the main purpose of this thing called “dating”. Young people are going out and are getting caught up in dating when they do not even understand the purpose of dating. They are setting up emotional bonds to other people when they are not yet ready for such a commitment. This has the potential to emotionally damage people and even scar them.
And just what is the purpose of dating? Some think that the purpose is to party around and have a good time with a member of the opposite sex. Others think it’s to meet new and exciting people. I am here to say that while these things are all good, they are not the primary reason for dating. The primary reason for dating is to find your future spouse; to find the person that you are willing to spend the rest of your life with. All those other things can be accomplished through friendships and general social relationships. There is no need to label a social meeting with a member of the opposite sex in order for it to be fun.
That is one of the reasons why I find it sad when I see a twelve year old who has a “boyfriend” or a “girlfriend”. At the age of twelve is a person ready to get married and support a family? In this culture the answer is “no”. What they are doing is just emotionally attaching themselves to another person in such a close way when they are not yet mentally or emotionally (and sometimes even physically) prepared for such things. They are setting themselves to get hurt when one of them realizes that they still have ten years or so before they are ready to settle down or when they find out that the person they were “dating” is not the sort of person that they want to be with forever. Especially since those who are twenty years old or under are changing at a much faster rate than they are at age thirty or older. They are still developing physically, mentally, and emotionally into the person that they will be. Granted the couple does not necessarily have to hurt when they break up or that they are going to break up. But why risk something when there is no need to?
What about those who are twenty-five years old and want to date for the sole purpose of having fun? The true purpose of dating still applies. What if you’re dating someone for fun while the other person wants a commitment? Do you see the problem there? If all you want out of this relationship is to have a fun time, then just be friends. You won’t suffer any loss in doing so. In fact you may even enjoy having a better relationship with that person due to it being less stressful. You won’t have to worry about the person expecting certain things from you that are common in dating. You don’t have to worry about the person liking you. That person is your friend, he or she is bound to like you and it probably won’t change. That depends upon your relationship with the person, of course.
I’m not saying that you need to change your lifestyle because dating for the wrong reasons is dangerous. In reality, though I said that emotional damage or trauma could be caused by dating with the wrong purpose, it doesn’t always happen and it probably doesn’t happen to the majority of the people who date. I just want you to think about the reasons of why you are dating and to let you know what the primary purpose of dating is. I also want to remind you that you don’t need to rush into a dating-type relationship in order to have fun. You can achieve that through a good friendship. And who knows? As your relationship grows with that person you may find out that he or she may be the person you would like to be with in a romantic relationship.