Opposites Attract

We were driving the other day, out on the highway and started talking about the small compass that my son bought for the car and stuck on the dashboard. This got me to thinking about how opposites attract.

Believe it or not, that’s how the creative process starts, at least for me. Try to follow along...

So we all know (or should know) that compasses all have a needle that points north, that’s what makes them so darn useful. After all, when you’re lost you have all these decisions to make – build a fire, don’t make a fire, build a shelter, keep moving, etc, etc, etc. Having a compass takes some of the pressure off because it always will tell you which way is north so you don’t have to make a decision about that.

Although, when you don’t know where you are in the first place, it may not make a difference which direction you travel in, will it?

Anyway, to get back on track. The reason the needle points north is because it’s magnetized and in any neck of the woods/plains/tundra/desert, it will point to the biggest magnet around, the North Pole. So it’s actually the south end of the needle in the compass that points north, because – let’s hear it – opposites attract! Wasn’t so hard, was it?

So I got to thinking about the other opposites that attract, like sweet and sour, good girls and bad guys, bad girls and good guys, cats and dogs. Sorry, scratch that last one.

It struck me that this opposing effect can be illustrated using my darling wife and myself.

My wife is immaculate, precise, detail oriented and isn’t one to step out into the spotlight knowingly. Now in my case, I am neat-ish, accurate to the nearest ten dollars in my account and am not one of the shyer types out there.

When we first met, the topic of banking and cheque books came up somehow. My theory is if the bank keeps sending me cheques, I must still have money in the bank. Three hours later, with all my cheque books spread out around here, she finally found the last three cents of the account and balanced my account for the first time in my life. It was quite amazing! I had more money than I thought! So we promptly went out to dinner to celebrate and spend what little I had left.

The fact that she still went out with me after finding out how much I was worth should just about prove the theory that opposites attract. Maybe it was the beer, I don’t know.

Ultimately, the fact that men and women actually get together and mostly stay together is the true measure of the opposite attracts theory. Can it get any more opposite than that? We know that men have no idea what women are thinking about and women probably never want to know what men are thinking about.

Thank goodness. If we actually liked the same things and did the same activities, when would we learn new things, try new activities and really determine for all time that avocado paste cooked on a hamburger is the worst thing that could happen to ground beef?

Now, that wasn’t so hard to follow, was it?