“Then Jesus
said to him, ‘Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord
your God and him only shall you serve.’”
St. Matthew 4:10
It
was great to see last week that my college friend John has finally gotten
engaged. I found out the way the way you
often do about these things when you’re my age, when a notice popped up halfway
down my Facebook feed. I haven’t seen John
in two or three years, but he seemed about the same, his arm around a beautiful
woman. Both of them looked delighted,
and frankly, a little relieved.
John’s
all of 38 now, and after a conversation I had with him the last time we were
together, I doubted that this day would ever come. He was kind enough to put me up for the night
in his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen the last time I was in New York. John works in mergers and acquisitions at a
big bank, knows a bit about everything, and has friends all over town. Still no steady girlfriend, though.
“You don’t understand what it’s like dating
here in the City,” John said to me over his plate of souvlaki. A few months before he had signed up for
Tinder, which was the hottest thing in dating technology at the time. Tinder is sort of like internet matchmaking
on steroids. It sets up a date for you
first thing in the morning by text message and you have an hour or two to
decide if you’re in the mood for this option or if you’d like to try someone
else instead.
John
had lots of dates. I expect he had
turned down two or three to have dinner with me.
