"I can see the appeal of a partner who didn't disagree or fight, made it their life's mission to look after me, put their needs aside in deference to my own. But that appeal is a thin surface of oil floating on an ocean of disgust, and would last about five-to-ten minutes. I don't think relationships should be wholly harmonious. I think you learn more about someone you care about in a good 30-minute fight than you would after a week of harmony. I need, we all need, someone who challenges us and has that spark in their eye that lets us know we're interacting with someone as strong-willed and capable as we are... A partner we don't connect with: that's horrible, and we've all experienced it, at one time or another. Hard to believe it was, and still is, an ideal many men strive for. They're who we are fighting against.
I don't think people in general make enough of this. For those in a relationship, the quality of that relationship is a big determiner of joy or sorrow in life. I may not be a massive connoisseur of affairs of the heart, but surely that's the business: 'interacting with someone as strong-willed and capable as you are' once you've had that who would settle for anything else?
