Among the many things I love about blogging are the opportunities to crush singlism, throw a wet blanket over matrimania, and get a more enlightened perspective about singles out there. It is especially terrific when I can enlist readers of this blog in the effort.

Recently, two requests came my way on the same day, one from a mental health professional and the other from an aspiring author. They both want to know what you can tell them about how, and how not, to interact with, and think about, people who are single. In this post, I will relay their questions. Then, sometime later, I'll discuss some of the answers you post in the comments section and add a few of my own.

I. Enlighten Mental Health Professionals

Debbie Crawford Sturm, a Ph.D. and a Licensed Professional Counselor, has been researching a chapter she is writing for a new family counseling textbook. To her everlasting credit, she was appalled by much of what she discovered. For example, she noted that some writers assume that people stay single "because they are somehow hurt, broken, fearful, or are grieving the passage of time," and they then go on to suggest that the role of counselors is to help single people deal with that grieving process. (Excuse me while I slit my wrists.) Debbie also recognized that this is how some people think about adults who do not have children, not realizing that for some, not having children is a choice they are embracing, not grieving.