Your buddy Dave has been single for three years and thinks "hey u up" is a valid strategy. Your other buddy Mike just got dumped and told you to "just be yourself."
You showed them her text. You asked them to decode the emoji. You drafted four responses and sent the screenshot to the group chat for a vote.
She's been waiting forty minutes.
Put the phone down. Stop crowdsourcing your love life. Type something that sounds like you. Hit send. Then go do literally anything else with your evening.
When people were arrested for not wearing masks (outside), and church services were forced to disband, I would say freedoms were taken. A lot of it seemed like a test run to see what people would tolerate, and they would tolerate a lot.
Dinner ran three hours. She laughed at everything. You walked her to her car thinking this one's locked in.
Then: nothing. Two texts. No reply. What happened?
You did what most men do on a great date. You filled every silence, answered every question, and left her with nothing to wonder about. No mystery. Nothing to sit with when she got home.
Rule 3 of the "22 Rules" changes the ending: tell her a little, hold back the rest, and let her imagination do the chasing. The ghosting stops too.
Where did this happen?
All in person gatherings were limited capacity. Nothing specific to church.
Test run for what?
There have been many occurrences of this. The incident below got quite a bit of press:
Churches were deemed unessential. Liquor stores were not. But many people were forced to close their businesses during the pandemic.
Test run for taking more freedoms, which really translates into grabbing more power for themselves. Who are they? The state, the oligarchy, the elite, the politicians.
She was asked multiple times to put on a mask or leave the venue. She refused.
This is misleading. Churches moved to virtual services because they could not meet capacity restrictions and still operate. How does a church host service while indoor public gatherings are restricted?
Governments don’t need a pandemic to “take freedoms.” Are implying this was globally orchestrated?
I recall one case where they were holding a drive in service, and the police came and broke it up.
I'm not big on conspiracy theories, although I'm sure there is more happening behind the scenes on a global scale than we know.
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.
One thing they knew people would not tolerate is liquor store closures.