August 31, 2018 (Friday)
When I discovered that today is National Matchmaker Day, I immediately thought of the movie, “Fiddler on the Roof,” and the lady in the Russian Jewish Village who served as matchmaker. There were 3 daughters in the featured family, all three of marriageable age. The matchmaker lady picked out a husband for the oldest girl, but she was in love with someone else. Her two sisters fell in love too, and the tradition was well on the way toward becoming an endangered species.
During my days as a pastor, I learned how to administer the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis which measured nine personality traits of an engaged couple. The purpose of the 180 questions asked was to produce a visual production of nine traits and their opposites.
Here is a list of those traits and the polar opposites:
Nervous ↔ Composed
Depressive ↔ Lighthearted
Active-Social ↔ Quiet
Expressive-Responsive ↔ Inhibited
Sympathetic ↔ Indifferent
Subjective ↔ Objective
Dominant ↔ Submissive
Hostile ↔ Tolerant
Self-Disciplined ↔ Impulsive
The analysis was only for the purpose of seeing how well each person knew himself or herself and the person he or she was about to marry, as well as helping the couple to make adjustments to each other if they felt it necessary. It was NOT a test to decide whether they should marry and I was very definitely NOT a matchmaker. It was simply a counseling tool.
One can go online and find organizations which will help them find someone to date, with the expectation that marriage might be the result of the friendship established through the dating process.
So, I’m not sure what we’re celebrating, but today is National Matchmaker Day. If that’s what you are, it’s your day.
Most of us got married the old-fashioned way. We got to know someone with whom we were friends at first, and later we both realized that we loved each other and decided to marry. After the wedding, we gradually got to know each other much better and little by little made adjustments because we loved each other and wanted what was best for our mate. Wanda and I were married 48 years before she passed away. I have many friends who passed the 50-year mark years ago. I suppose the Lord was their matchmaker.
