The 26 Year Old Lady

The junior I met at the new posting after my return from Melbourne had an interesting taste for conversation topics. Today, he boldly flashed a question concerning age-differences in couples.

"Genghis, you are 25, aren't you? Would you ever accept a 26 year old lady as your wife or your girlfriend?"

I looked at him with a blank stare. Perhaps I was still only half out of dreamland and was battling to keep myself from thinking I could just close my eyes and dive into a bed. Yes, vaguely, I remember this question did appear in my conciousness before.

Then I analysed that most couples exist as a composition of an older man and a younger woman. This is, from a biological point of view, not the most ideal. Woman usually have a longer lifespan. And being younger, the wife would be expected to have a much more prolonged period of being a widow after the husband dies. That is a torture for the lady if both of them are deeply in love. For the husband to die at approximately the same time as the wife, he would need to be 5 years younger than her (because on average, guys die at 75 and girls die at 80)

However, tradition has it that men are usually the breadwinner as well as the leader of the house. An older man would have more reason to claim authority than someone much younger. A leader should have experience; and an older age often translates to being more experienced. So it is perfectly logical that most guys are looking for girls slightly younger than them, but not excessively younger than them.

Do I MIND an older girl as my partner? I definitely don't! They are often more mature. And mature girls have a knack of inducing a certain calmness in me. I like to know that the person I love is able to process information at a much higher level than me - and that she is able to make correct decisions for me and the kids without me having the need to put on a thinking cap. Also a more mature girl will not throw a childish tantrum at me without herself feeling a little inappropriate after that.

Hence in modern times, the age gap between 2 lovers has been shrinking, even becoming nonexistent or running into the negative. This is the result of more equality in the society and women being able to produce a face looking half their age after some clever cosmetic make-up.

"Sure, sure. And why not? I would be very blessed indeed." I told Mr HX.

But the truth is, would girls mind having a younger lover? Wouldn't it feel like having a baby brother to look after? Tradition is still the most daunting hurdle to cross, but a conservative person always ends up with a stable and hardly interrupted life. The new MTV age is just so full of divorces and broken families. What is the cause? Independence and stubbornness equal destruction in a relationship. Thus, dependence and respect are a formula for super-glue consistency.

Age has got no place in a relationship these days. Everyone, though, ought to find partners their age.