So, why are you single?

Have you ever been talking to a friend, stranger, a potential companion and gotten the dreaded question, "So, why are you single?" I have been guilty of asking it myself,several times,well many times now that I think about it. How do you answer it? Do you blame your ex-partner? Do you blame yourself? Blame the dog? Blame her family?
But the real question is why do we actually ask it? I know myself, that I wonder "what is so bad about you that you don't have a girlfriend, wife, or whatever. What is it that you aren't telling me." I am occasionally over analytical, but I know I am so therefore I don't have to be reminded of that fault. However, that fault is my savior more than my demise.
I by far feel like every man or woman should be jointed at the hip with a mate, because that would leave less men for myself to pick and choose from, but sometimes you should ask the question. As dreadful as it may be to ask,and the long drawn out answer, you never know the answer you may get. There are always two sides to every story, and no one is perfect of course. If it's all his fault, and he just couldn't stay faithful, he wanted to party all the time, he was so this or that. Ask the person, well what did you do? Did you talk to him about it? What did he say? Why did you stay so long? I have been guilty of staying in relationships I knew were doomed. I don't like to argue and dread confrontation that I know isn't going to go over well, but someone has to do it, and it might as well be me fighting my own battle for my own cause-MY SANITY.
I found in a past relationship, that I failed to come to terms with the fact this guy had serious trust problems that really lied in his own insecurity. I just didn't know he was that insecure, but the trust problem I caught a hint of.
You never know what kind of demon, hellion, or whatever creature will come out later and scare the 'ell out of you where you sleep with one eye open.
Of course, I don't recommend starting the first conversation with this question, if you just listen or read what the person is saying, remember that "build rapport thing"-this is part of it; you will catch a hint or two that something isn't adding up or maybe all is well in the hood and they just picked a dumbarse. I will give some examples of my own experiences in a later post.
Many of us have a problem with actually listening, being analytical does come in handy, you may not realize what you are actually hearing at that time because you are seeing that nice smile, hearing their voice in your head when you should be concentrating on shaving your beard, and cupid is nipping at your heels, but later and hopefully not too late you will have an epiphany that you are kissing Lucifer's grandkid and you should run.