June 7, 2005 - So today Lauren and I go out to play some pool and then get some dessert. While eating dessert, she poses the question, "what is your defintion of a hopeless romantic, and are you one?" This caught me by surprise, as I had never really given the subject much thought. We talked about it a little, but I didn't come up with any definition that I was comfortable with. After doing a little research on the internet, there are apparently many people who have written on the topic, although not from any scientific or validated standpoint, just their own opinion. Therefore, I'm going to have to assume that there is no official definition, and whatever I decide it is, is what it is for me. I think it would be easy to point out some things that don't make someone a hopeless romantic. Selfishness, the desire to please yourself only in the relationship, certainly wouldn't qualify. Putting sex as the highest goal in a relationship wouldn't work. There are two words...hopeless, and romantic. Hopeless implies to me that one has given up hope, or given up thinking that something will happen. Romantic implies some sort of old fashioned chivalry combined with spontaneity and forthright unselfishness, directed at the person of your affection, with the strict thought towards them and not yourself. To combine the two words makes it sound as if a hopeless romantic has an altruistic attitude about romance. Somewhere there was at one point the hope of finding someone who would be a romantic sort of person, but through bad experiences one determines that they should probably give up on the hope of finding a romantic. Therefore, to respond to her question, I think I do not consider myself a hopeless romantic, but rather simply just a romantic. And why not? It is a good thing to be this sort of person.