Plight of the Single Girl

Public proposals are one of those embarrassing social moments that I really have no idea how to respond to.  When I am at a restaurant, eating dinner, and someone gets down on one knee, I get a little annoyed.  Yes, this is a special moment for these two but what about the room full of strangers that now are sharing in this joy.  I went to eat dinner, and now I am applauding for a couple that I don’t even know.
 
It becomes awkward for the people who are now witnesses.  We don’t know you, we don’t know if this a good thing that you’re getting married.  You two could be a horrible couple that actually kind of hate each other.  You could be pretending to get married to get the free bottle of champagne at dinner.  On the other hand maybe you really do love each other — but we don’t know you and we don’t know that.
 
It’s worse at a sporting event.  When someone proposes at a sporting event and get up on the bog screen, I am forced to stop paying attention to the game that I bought overpriced tickets to and watch two strangers squeal with joy.  Instead of seeing an amazing play at third, the entire stadium is now being shown a cheesy speech that was probably stolen right out of When Harry Met Sally.
 
It becomes this weird event, I feel out of place.  This is the couple’s moment and I am part of it.  I went to a concert this summer and a guy proposed in the middle of it.  I got sucked in for a minute, I saw that everyone else was clapping and I felt obligated to join in.  As the seemingly endless proposal went on, I realized that I had no business being there.  This is their moment, this was what they would remember forever and the rest of us had come to listen to music.
 
I think that real issue with public proposals is that none of us want to watch someone getting trapped.  I tend to fear that someone will feel like they can’t say no.  I worry that all of the staged romance will be overwhelming and that it will lead to a train wreck.  I don’t want the guy to be heartbroken.  I don’t want the girl to say yes when she really means no (but I don’t want to see her say no either).  I just don’t want to be a part of their moment.