It's The Thought That Counts...

It's The Thought That Counts...

No. It isn't.

Let’s get something straight from the get go, shall we? Human beings are shallow, vein, pity, [insert negative adjective here] beings. Pretending that this isn't the case is an effort in futile hypocrisy. Since engaging in said endeavors has become something of a national past-time among folks; what the hell, I'll join in with my usual approach to stupid arguments with something called common sense.

How many of my valiant readers would marry a disfigured but kind-hearted woman? Not many, I'd wager. Of course, says the voice in the back of the room, “not everyone is like that!” Thankfully, I've already prepared the standard reply to this flawed argument. The following is how one should approach this type of logic when you inevitably encounter it during your life-time.

Counter-argument: But Kyle, looks aren't everything! I would marry a disfigured woman if she had a great personality or [insert factor that would allow me to look passed the fact that she is disfigured.]

Kyle: Thank you for proving my point. Notice what you've just said? You've just made a point to note that a disfigured woman would need to have a quark that would allow you to look passed the fact that she was disfigured in order for you to marry her. How many times do you hear people need to defend the qualities needed in order to look passed the fact that a woman is attractive? If you said never, you're correct! That's because people are incapable of spouting that much bullshit. The mind refuses to do it. Even it has a tolerance and it draws the line right there. We like pretty people more than ugly people. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just how we are. Thanks for playing the “proof that human beings are vein” game.

With that out of the way, let’s move to the point of this rant. Malcolm recently received a Christmas gift from his girlfriend. It was a beautiful collection of pictures of the two of them. She carefully and meticulously crafted together this scrapbook and made it aesthetically pleasing, something I’m confident she’d hope that he would keep forever to remind him of their love. He was in the middle of telling me how sweet it was when I stopped him. The conversation went roughly as follows:

Kyle: She made you some cheap piece of scrapbook for Christmas? What the fuck type of gift is that?

Malcolm: It was sweet.

Kyle: That isn't a gift. That's just stupid.

Malcolm: You're just jealous because no one made you anything.

Kyle: No. I've had girlfriends make me stuff before. I told them that it was bullshit and that I didn't accept it has a gift. It's a cheap cope-out and it basically says, “I was too cheap to buy you a gift, so I made you something and I'm going to hide behind the fact that it's sweet and caring and loving so that you can't complain.”

Malcolm: You really are an asshole, you know that?

Kyle: It’s taken you this long to realize this?

The argument veered back and forth following the same basic premises. Malcolm would claim that it was a sweet and well thought out gift. I would tell him that he's being a moron and that if he looked at it logically, he'd agree with me. In the interest of tying together my previous point, I realize that this is an asshole thing to say. It doesn't make it any less true, however. People like gifts that they can use. A picture book is a cheap cope-out that avoids this. Don't believe me? Let’s look at some facts about relationships.

1. What's the first thing that you get rid of once a relationship goes sour? Pictures, letters, emails, and the occasional porn video that the two of you made together while drunk one night. Shit that no longer has value once the relationship ends.

2. What are the things that you never get rid of, despite the fact that a relationship goes sour? Good gifts that you could use. Know what I've kept from previous relationships? A computer screen, a guitar, an Xbox remote control, some drinking games, the fan in my room. Know what these all have in common? I can use them and they were good gifts. Seeing a pattern here?

While even I'll admit that I am not the be it end all of how people live their lives, I think most rational people will agree: no one keeps the scrapbook from the old girlfriend. It's even a pain to keep while you're still in the relationship but you keep it entirely out of guilt in case she ever asks what happened to it. If there was such a thing has emotional bonds to scrapbooks and poetry, why is it no one keeps them once the relationship ends? (NOTE: I realize that some pathetic souls actually do keep that junk but these are NOT the type of people we should strive to be in society.) If the thought is what counts, then why does the thought seem to go away (for most reasonable people) once a relationship ends?

Let’s take it a step further and examine this sentence, “It’s the thought that counts” and expose it for what it is. Okay? It counts for what, exactly? I assume for proof that the person cares? That an effort was put forward that should be rewarded and thanked? Notice that by using the same logic we use in everyday life, we quickly find out that this sentence is bullshit. We made the whole thing up in order to make ourselves feel better. Don't believe me? Here's what would happen in everyday life if 'the thought counted' for anything other than making people feel better about themselves.

Example 1:

Nurse: Doctor! The patient is dying!

Doctor: Dammit! I'm doing all I can here. I keep thinking and thinking but it isn't working!

Example 2:

Teacher: You didn't write anything on your paper.

Student: Gee whiz sir, I certainly gave it a lot of thought though. That's got to count for something.

This is the type of logic that Malcolm (AND YOU DEAR READER) is employing in regards to love. If you think that the above two examples are stupid, it's because they are. And so are you. Don't feel bad, you've taken the first step towards recovery by reading this. For our more adventurous readers, I'd like to offer a quaint suggestion has to what you should say the next time you're faced with someone who 'makes' you a gift.

You: This is a stupid gift. If you didn't have the money or the reasoning capacity to buy me a good gift, you should have just told me that instead of insulting my intelligence by getting me some junk that I have to keep in my room to ease your insecurities about our relationship and whether or not I love you. By the way, I can't love someone who can't buy me a gift – so I suppose that your gift did work in some odd way. Take care now.

Edit: My apologies for the non-frequent updates this week. Next week should have quite a bit of material up.