Posted: Jul 6, 08 1:42pm

After many years of being alone raisen my kids and dedicating all my time to thier needs , i find now that 10 yrs latter I know nothing about the dating Game as they call it. What are folks looking for out there? am I to old school, and open doors for the lady, and pick up the check each time you go to dinner. No clue as to what the answers really are. but one thing i know is I'm honest and I'm kind and most of all i'm me. No false fronts. So why i ask is it so hard just to have lunch or a coffee with someone i find interesting. Have we gotten to a point in life where the trust and williness to seek out kind hearted folks , is something only left up to an old way of thoughts, do we cherish our online contacts more than we even give someone a second look in real life? To say the least it's pretty hard for a man such as myself , to understand the dating trends of today. In the city for which i now live in, it is frowned apon to greet others as you pass them , lets say in a parking lot at the store. this is due largely because of the gang activity in the area, where as they say hello and you respond, and they then attack you. I do not know this unwritten rule and one day did so greet a lady in the parkinglot as i passed by. she begain to scream..... help help police he is going to kill me.... lol you can image the thoughts i had as i looked around wondering what she was talking about. soon there after a policeman showed up and i was taken aside, rather quickly. I explained i had only said hello in passing, and the policeman then explained to me this unwritten rule about not talking to folks , nor greeting them, I was amazed at this outcome, as i then went about my business i could not help but to wonder where i missed the boat on this rule, and how come after many years of service to my country oversea, had i come back to such a weird unwritten rule. I tried once again onetime in a resturant to say hello to a lady as i passed by a table, going to sit down by myself to eat. once again it was the same outcome, this lady however got pretty loud and upset..... I looked around and looked into the other eyes of some of the folks that were there. and i seen a look as if i was some kind of freak. So i took a seat at the bar and ate alone . The waiter came over and so did the cook from the kitchen, they both talked to me , and told me about that same unwritten rule..... but they still felt bad about that lady's outburst so after my meal, and going to pay the bill, the cook cmae out and said sir please take this piece of cake home, it's not much but the joy of the indulgence of a bit of cake is better than remembering what just happened here. I took the cake and said ty as i left i looked at noone and went out without much of a sound but a ty to the cook and a keep the change to the person taken my money. SO i ask you , what is it that i'm missing, our we so off in other worlds that kindness to others takes a back seat????? hence not a date in years!!!!!!! your input please