Sunday, August 20, 2006
On Love
Of the 5 quotes from my previous post, the one by Og Mandino is probably my favorite. I like stories, narratives, and experiences that reinforce that love is a living breathing force that has to not only be maintained, but made to grow. The path it will take is always unknown and the destination is non-existent. It essentially is the truest emotional embodiment of the Taoist/Zen expression "the journey is the destination."
Effectively one year after my college life has concluded I am in the midst of many of my friends navigating their own love lives. Some of them have gone off to be married, some were going to be married and circumstances have changed, some of them are in a relationship to kill time, some of them are in serious relationships just enjoying whatever course life may take. The diversity is truly quite staggering.
Maybe it's my sentimentality or simply the emotional glare from my idealist-rose-tinted glasses, but it's all pretty amazing. All relationships have their highs and lows, but isn't that why we're all involved? Isn't it your privilege to feel compassionate pain when your significant other is miserable? Isn't it your privilege to be the first thing someone else sees when they wake up on Saturday morning? Isn't it your privilege to sit and cry when your both all worked up? Isn't it your privilege to know that somebody out there thinks of your face and smiles because your just that damned important? I think it is. All of these things are the privileges granted in relationships. All the good, and all the bad, moments two people share define their wholely unique experience.
Yes, love must be remade. It must be tempered carefully and continuously so that you can always forge something stronger.
I'm well aware that I'm a sentimental sucker, a romantic, and an idealist. Especially when it comes to matters of love, but isn't it my privilege to feel that way?
Effectively one year after my college life has concluded I am in the midst of many of my friends navigating their own love lives. Some of them have gone off to be married, some were going to be married and circumstances have changed, some of them are in a relationship to kill time, some of them are in serious relationships just enjoying whatever course life may take. The diversity is truly quite staggering.
Maybe it's my sentimentality or simply the emotional glare from my idealist-rose-tinted glasses, but it's all pretty amazing. All relationships have their highs and lows, but isn't that why we're all involved? Isn't it your privilege to feel compassionate pain when your significant other is miserable? Isn't it your privilege to be the first thing someone else sees when they wake up on Saturday morning? Isn't it your privilege to sit and cry when your both all worked up? Isn't it your privilege to know that somebody out there thinks of your face and smiles because your just that damned important? I think it is. All of these things are the privileges granted in relationships. All the good, and all the bad, moments two people share define their wholely unique experience.
Yes, love must be remade. It must be tempered carefully and continuously so that you can always forge something stronger.
I'm well aware that I'm a sentimental sucker, a romantic, and an idealist. Especially when it comes to matters of love, but isn't it my privilege to feel that way?
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Sunday, August 20, 2006 
