Inherently Different

waiting for the night to fall

“Life doesn’t always work out the way we want.”

In the big book of truth, that statement should be listed first, followed closely by, “We always hurt the one’s we love.” I am nothing if I am not honest. Truth is the thin, pale wall between what we want and what we need. It is what keeps us from getting what we want or getting what we need. We are an unpredictable species until you start thinking in terms of truth and its place in our world.

Of course, it is the very unpredictability of human nature that makes life interesting if not exciting. The real problem with most things in life is keeping perspective from ruining the moment.

Take, for example, the idea of love. While you’re held within love’s fragile grasp, the future makes sense, your decisions are easy and the past is always seen through rose-colored glass. The moment you fall out of love though, nothing is easy, the future is suspect and everything looks dark.

I know that this analysis might seem pessimistic, but it is honest for better or worse. And in that way, I think I’m healthier than your average romantic. I know that barring death, love ends eventually. The phrase, “Til Death Do We Part,” in the standard marriage vow was created because of the relatively temporary lifespan of love. The phrase isn’t, “Eternally Yours,” because love has a life cycle of its own that can’t be controlled or anticipated.

But love is much more than an ethereal benchmark of longevity. It is also an exhibition of control or more appropriately, the complete loss of it. It is that freefall of emotion, that undeniable sense of chaos, that makes loving someone the scariest undertaking known to human kind.

The pursuit of love is the only reason we still exist as a species. If it weren’t for love, nothing on this planet would exist. Love is the great motivator. Men, and some women, have been pushed to do incredible things, all in the name of love. Of course, not all that love has wrought has been good. Wars have been waged, civilizations changed, and lives ruined in every imaginable way, all for love. Is there any question then that love is the currency that makes the world go round?

Yes, love does make the world go round. Love, and the pursuit of it, forces us to wake up in the morning. Among us, the hardworking might think money is truly the reason why you get up and go to work, but what is that money for? If not to buy some bauble, clothes, a car, a home, all in the pursuit of love is it not? Even those who can’t be bothered to love someone else surely love themselves enough to work hard to get the things that please them. No one works purely to survive these days, so what do they really use the money for? My guess, if I spent any real thought on the subject, is that they use it to grease the wheels of attraction.

While money can make someone attractive, only love can keep that attraction from fading once the money is gone. Am I a romantic? Well, some might disagree, but in my own rational and pragmatic way, yes. Of course, your mileage may vary.