Love, timing and the Taxi Cab Theory

If the timing is perfect, should it be the only basis for a person to commit to a relationship? What about love? Maturity? Stability? If you are starting a relationship with someone, both of you must be ready to put in extra effort for it to work and sustain for a long time to the point of marriage.

- BOY ABUNDA

Miranda Hobbes, a character portrayed by actress Cynthia Nixon, once remarked cynically in an episode of the award-winning American television series "Sex and the City," "Men are like cabs. When they're available, their light goes on. They awake one day and decide they're ready to settle down, have babies, whatever, and they turn their light on. Next woman they pick up, boom! That's the one they'll marry." This is how Miranda views men when it comes to commitment and marriage.

This perception is popularly known as the Taxi Cab Theory (or Cab Light Theory). It alludes that love is not entirely based on the length of the relationship, but rather when a man is ready to commit and settle down. It suggests that like cabs with multiple destinations, men go through different relationships until they reach the phase when they are already prepared to get married to whoever the woman they are with at that time. This shows the importance of timing.