I have a few questions for all of you. Ready? How many of you consider yourself to be shallow when it comes to dating? Chances are, you answered “no” in your head. How many of you have said something similar to this: “I only date guys with nice teeth and a nice car” or “I only go out with girls that have tattoos”? I’m assuming that most of us are pretty guilty at this point. In today’s society, it seems that the concept of having standards has somehow meshed with the shallow entities of looks and material items. And honestly, that really sucks. So in order to wake up society and point out the social flaws in the way we look at standards, here are few things that need to stop

Stop saying you look for guys or girls with nice teeth, a certain hair color, a certain body weight, etc…

I am in complete understanding that people are attracted to certain things, but honestly what does hair color have to do with anything? And nice teeth? Really?! Picture this: you are sitting alone at a local Starbucks when a very handsome man approaches you. He has a single flower in hand, dressed in brown corduroys and has dazzling green eyes. You look at him and your heart begins to flutter at the sight of his immaculately placed hair. He is perfect…until he opens his mouth to speak. You realize as soon as he begins to talk that he has a huge gap in between his two front teeth and he drinks way too much coffee. You can’t stop staring at his teeth and after he says the most beautiful words to a complete stranger, you turn him down. Why? Because you were too busy looking at his imperfect chompers to hear that he just said you were the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on.

Stop saying that you like a guy or girl with a nice car, nice shoes, nice clothes, etc…

For me, this makes no sense. Again, I get that certain people may be attracted to certain things. However, I can’t see how someone’s car or clothes has to do with whether you want to date someone or not. Imagine this: you and your bros are sitting outside at the local Panera Bread while enjoying some lovely but very manly soup. All of a sudden a girl walks up to you and your mouth drops open. Her hair is greasy and tied into a knotty braid. Her shirt has a few minor stains on it and her pants have dirt around the bottoms. Her shoes are very worn and you can tell she isn’t wearing any socks. She begins to talk to you but all you can do is stare at what she looks like. You think in your head “man, she looks homeless.” All the while she is talking to you about going to a football game this Saturday and after hitting the bar for a cold one. But you turned down the most down to earth girl you’ll ever meet because all you could think about was how bad her clothing looked.

I am not saying that you can’t be attracted to certain people and not to others. But what I am saying is that maybe we should watch what we say when talking about dating. Many of us don’t realize that the things we say are shallow. This may be hard to imagine, but what if at some point in your life you have ended things or turned someone down because they didn’t fall into the narrow set of requirements you have set and they were made for you? What if instead of turning down that person with crooked teeth or a crappy car, you give them a chance? Hey, you might just find that person you’ve been searching for. Having standards doesn’t mean that you require nice teeth or nice clothes. It means that you want someone with the same values, morals, beliefs, and ethics as you. You want someone that will take care of you, defend you, love you for you, and understand you. You want someone that will respect your boundaries and will be loyal to you. Having standards is wonderful thing. Being shallow, eh not so much.