The Saint

Today a question that honestly deserves some introspection was fired at me and that too straight out of the blue... (The text is not verbatim)

Are you really as saintly as you appear to be in terms of women or ... ?

Taken aback by the way this googly was tossed at me, I was at first a little unsure about the way I was required to answer this question. Sense however prevailed and I managed the answer but not before I quizzed my interviewer about the defination of the term 'Saintly'.

My Question : How does one define the term 'saintly' and what does 'in terms of women' mean ?
This probe found me the following answer.
Unsaintly behavior in terms of women - Person who flirts with the intent of oogling and may take immense pleasure in doing so. (There are some who do it compulsively)

My answer was somewhat close to the following ... I'm a guy and I'm straight so essentially I have my beliefs and my thoughts in the right place (Fact). And I definately don't oogle at women because I consider it extremely obscene and an invasion of privacy. I don't deny an occasional flirting on my part but its limited to ladies who know me well and who I hope have the mindspace and intellegence for it. My apologies but I have no patience for dumb women (or anyone for that matter).

My answer did not seem to completely satisfy my quizmaster so another twist was popped on me.

So are you implying that you are not interested in women and that you don't look at them?

Me : Well as I mentioned before I'm straight. But there is a definate fat line of distnction between oogling and what we men call a quick scan or glance.

Quizmaster : Hmmnnnn.... (the topic drifted to something else)

Much later in the evening it occured to me that human actions and opinions are to a huge degree precipitated by past experiences and the emotional traces that they leave. So there are usually some undercurrents that linger through and manage to affect the way we percieve situations.

In my case ... I think I'll just say ... Once smitten forever shy.