the monday moan

Cheers to mediocrity!

This article, "Why it's OK to settle for Mr. Good Enough," operates on an interesting premise: When it comes to marriage, there's a difference between compromising and settling. Its author is pretty strong in her assertion that all women want to eventually get married and have a family -- and in most cases, you have to compromise some of your standards to further that goal.

An excerpt:

"Oh, I know — I’m guessing there are single 30-year-old women reading this right now who will be writing letters to say that the women I know aren’t widely representative, that I’ve been co-opted by the cult of the feminist backlash, and basically, that I have no idea what I’m talking about. And all I can say is, if you say you’re not worried, either you’re in denial or you’re lying. In fact, take a good look in the mirror and try to convince yourself that you’re not worried, because you’ll see how silly your face looks when you’re being disingenuous."

Pretty harsh words.

But in my experience, at least, they seem true. The more friends I make, the times I see girls sacrifice some of their most important standards -- say, a rule that the guy they date can't have children -- in order to get on the track to marriage.

What do you think? Is "settling" an antiquated term? In what ways does settling differ from compromising?