I was checking out at the grocery store and happened to glance at a People magazine. Plastered across its cover was the bare and bruised face of Johnny Depp’s wife. The headline read, “Inside Their Toxic Marriage: Jealousy, fights and accusations of violence.” The lady behind me in line must have seen the same thing and muttered aloud, “Where have all the good guys gone?”

I was passing by a table of men seated in a restaurant and overheard them using obscene language as they discussed the young waitress serving them. The men all laughed as they objectified a human being. Making my way back to my table I continued to observe the situation as the waitress returned. Her customers made some remark and I watched as her face changed completely. She flashed a sunken look at the ground as if to say, "Where have all the good guys gone?"

Two teenage girls were walking along the sidewalk, eager to arrive at their first high school dance. They passed a man twice their age who catcalled at them. Both confused and disgusted, the one girl asked her friend, “Where have all the good guys gone?”

I was scrolling past posts on Facebook and one caught my eye. It was a Buzfeed article containing a letter that a sexual assault victim wrote to her rapist. The letter detailed her entire heart wrenching experience. I read on, finding out that the rapist walked away with only several months of jail time while his victim would forever affected by the event. Fed up with everything and overcome with anger and frustration, I finally blurted out, "Where have all the good guys gone!?"

“Where have all the good guys gone?” That is the very question that pervades deeply among the women of our generation as we see case after case of abuse and harassment on the news, in our schools and for some, in our homes. Our brains are wired to ask, “Where have all the good guys gone?” knowing perfectly well that there is no answer. Our belief in this unanswerable question reinforces the idea that there really aren’t any more good guys out there. We accept things the way they are and move on with our lives, settling for the first guy who makes us feel “special” even if he jokingly calls us a whore and makes other sexual jokes about us to his friends. At least he sends us a good morning text, right? We may only consider him just an “OK guy,” but that’s fine because “good guys” only exist in the movies.

Yep, that's right. Good guys only exist in the movies, meaning there aren’t any good guys out there, only just OK guys that make us feel special.

Woah. Woah. Woah. Now hold on there. Perhaps that would be my conclusion had my situation been different, but I actually find that statement to be repulsively false. Why you ask? Because I have been blessed with men who constantly prove the opposite:

men who spend their Friday evenings praying outside a strip club, facing hateful language, threats and customers who spit upon them all because they believe the women inside are worth so much more

men who had been working for three months to surprise my girlfriends and I with a three course dinner which they prepared and served themselves

men just like my dear friend who bought a corsage for a girl because she had no date to prom, and drove 45 minutes just to drop it off at her house just as any gentleman would do

men just like my father who chooses to give everything he has and everything he is every day to serve the needs of his wife and kids.

and many more men just like the aforementioned.

Not only are these good guys, but more than that, they are great men. I believe that us women are constantly asking the question, "Where have all the good guys gone?" because we let the bad overshadow the good. We grow exceedingly impatient and give up on the good guys that truly are out there. However, I beg of you, please, please, please do not give up because I swear that there are great men out there — men

who know exactly what a beautiful masterpiece you are, men who are willing to fight in order to uphold your dignity, men who treat you the way you are meant to be treated.

Remember, so long as there are women believing these men are out there, great men will continue to exist. The moment we as women lower our standards, our men will begin to fall. If we instead raise our standards to a new level, these men will recognize the challenge placed before them and work to meet it.

So, to all you men: keep striving for greatness.

And to all you women: keep patient and never settle for a man who is anything less than great.