Give Me a Rose: Why We Swoon for the Bachelor

   In exactly 20 days, the 20th season of The Bachelor will start.  There are two reactions to this news.  You're either the person on the left, or the person on the right.

                                     

   If you haven't been around for the past twenty seasons, the premises of the show is that one, {lucky?} single guy starts out with having to choose from a pool of around 25 women to go on dates with.  Ultimately, he selects one of them.  Romantic dates, travels and drama ensue and he gives roses to the ladies in the contest who he can see himself with in a relationship.  The end of the season culminates with a proposal and eventual {probably televised}wedding.

   Which would be great, if it didn't involve so much drama.  It can be expected of course, but the amount of tears that are shed and hearts that are broken rack up quite quickly as the season progresses.  

Drama.

More Drama.

Oh, and over here I found some more drama.  Imagine that.

                                       
You may think I'm crazy, but I think that at the core of The Bachelor, the producers are drilling into some deep yearnings of the human heart.

Despite the multitude of overly-flirtatious interactions, hot-tubs, and not-so-upright conversations, The Bachelor, and its counterpart, The Bachelorette, taps into a deeper desire for ultimate love and commitment within a relationship.  Our culture is saturated with sex.  Need an example? Just check out the magazine covers in the grocery store.  Today's culture has told us that a relationship requires sex NOW and commitment way later, if at all.  It's why cohabitation is becoming more and more prevalent, because the safety net of trying things out is directly correlated to our fear of commitment with one person.

Today's culture seemingly offers one option - hang out and hook up.  Articles on why people don't date anymore are run rampant on Facebook.  Culturally, the emphasis has switched from couples to the power that an individual has in their school choice, career path, and ultimately deciding when (or if) they are going to settle down and share with someone else.

The idea of being selected out of a crowd, given a rose, and pursued intentionally appeals to the human heart.  It is intriguing to be seen, found attractive for who you are as a human being, and then be purposefully pursued.  Even a simple thing like someone taking interest in a shared hobby can mean a lot, and being found interesting for who you are inherently as opposed to solely what you look like is rare in the visual world we find ourselves in.

The beauty found in an engagement and marriage – the hopes of relationship reality TV shows like The Bachelor  shows that there is a desire in the human heart for commitment to another, not just interest.  Interest is something that occurs when there isn't something better to do and when it's convenient for your schedule.  Commitment is saying you'll be there, and loving the other as other, not for what they can do for you to return the favor.

Our culture is sick of commitment.  Have you been invited to a Facebook event lately? Long gone are the good ol' days of "No," "Yes," and "Maybe."  Now you only have the option of "Interested" "Going" or "Ignore."

Interested? How much more of a non-committal statement can we get?  The next option should be "I'm coming if nothing else better comes up or cooler people invite me to hang out with them."  Let's be honest and stop trying to sugar coat it.  Instead of seeing events and opportunities to spend time with people as a chance to connect with another human being on the same journey to Heaven, we're reducing people down to the pleasure they can bring us.

Not just sexual pleasure in a relationship, but even the pleasure of a good time, fun conversation or instagram worthy shots.

"Treating a person as a means to an end, and an end moreover which in this case is pleasure, the maximization of pleasure, will always stand in the way of love."
- Saint Pope John Paul II, Love and Responsibility 

What you'll see week after week in The Bachelor, as Ben goes through girls and tries to discover in a few short weeks the woman he'll be asking to discern marriage with him, is that it will be easy for pleasure to get in the way.  And let's be honest, it's 'reality television,' so there will inevitably be {scripted}drama.  Yet if you are glued to the screen and have a countdown ticking down the days until January 4th, don't miss out on the deeper message that Ben and the ladies are begging for, whether they know it or not.

"A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of Love, not as an object for use."
 - Saint Pope John Paul II, Love and Responsibility 

The Bachelor is popular because our souls were made for ultimate completeness, a desire that can only be fulfilled in God's unconditional, Agape love for us.  The answer to this ache in our hearts that can only be filled with love is not going to be satisfied here on this earth - even if you were picked out of all the 25 girls and Ben chose you.  You've already been seen out of all those who have ever walked this earth and will ever walk it, and God sees and loves you.  And that's better than any bachelor rose can ever be.