My usual perspective of Valentines’ Day is that it is a made-up holiday, created by intelligent marketers who needed to come up with another holiday to fill their sales’ quota in the time between Christmas and Easter. Of course, in the past, I have participated in the traditional Valentines’ festivities; however, for the first time, this year, February 14th made me think about love. I am writing this post out of a moment of vulnerability, out of an unusual sense of freedom. I might regret this decision in the morning, but for now, I ask that you read the following with care.
Don’t get me wrong, love has, in the past, swallowed me up in its strong arms and made me feel like nothing could go wrong. Love has made anything possible; it has made flowers grow from nothing at all. Love has encouraged me, it has supported me, it has created me. However, over the past year, love has torn out my insides. Love has made me sick with its strength, both literally and figuratively. Love has made me question my life, forget my identity and discover my weaknesses. This past year has been littered with situations that have forced me to re-define my definition of love. Love was once something that could never be wrong, it could never fail, it could never be lost. However, those conditions that I once placed upon this four-letter word have finally been removed. Before, I explain the new definition of “love” that I have experienced this week, I want to share a story with you:
On Wednesday morning, I helped out at Queen Street Commons (which is a quaint café that is connected with the Working Centre – http://www.theworkingcentre.org/). I was clearing some of the empty plates from the café when a woman asked me if I would join her for a few minutes. I sat down and we began to go through the typical topics of conversation: the weather, the news, our mis-matched socks, thing of that nature. After a few minutes, I stood up to continue clearing tables when the woman asked me to wrap up the rest of her food. I, absent-mindedly, wrapped up her meal and said farewell. A few minutes later, as I was wiping down a table near the window, I saw this same woman kneeling on the wet ground, offering the rest of her meal to her cat. My initial reaction to this act was bewilderment. How can this woman choose to give away what little food she has and offer it to an animal? How can she choose “it” over her own hunger? However, I have discovered that it is simply not my place to quantify the importance of the object of her affections; rather, the lesson is in the love that this woman has shown. Her suffering was because of her great love and her un-ending devotion to her best friend.
So…what is love? Love is something that might let me down. It is something that might make me cry at times. But I would never give it up. Love has made my life beautifully amazing. It has given me friends that I could never live without. Love has given me strength to move forward and understanding when I move back. Love has allowed me to communicate without speech; it has given me endless possibilities. And ultimately, love has given me freedom. Love has given me freedom from the anger of hate and the danger of bitterness. I would like to leave you with a line from a powerful song:
Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,
It will set you free
Be more like the man(or woman) you were made to be.
There is a design,
An alignment to cry,
At my heart you see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be – Mumford & Sons
I don't think that love could ever let you down Nicole. I think that it is people who let you down, not love. Love is a powerful force that exists beyond and without us and that it is only people who tap into this power and express it. Unfortunately we are often imperfect at what we express which we, for lack of a better word, call love. At least, that is my view anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again.- M & S
I think this is what you are doing and I am proud of you for it.
P.S. Ditto on your 3rd and 4th sentence.
I think you've thought a lot this week! Keep well over reading week and enjoy your much needed break!
ReplyDelete-Sebastien :)
What a great contrast to last week's post. How do you think your prof would react to this scenario? What do you think the woman's "hidden motives" were for sharing with her cat :)
ReplyDelete