Love Actually!

Read a rather disturbing account of what Ayn Rand considers love to be. Disturbing not because I agree or disagree with her. To be clear, I've never really agreed with her and make a conscious effort to avoid all her books. Disturbing because the limits of my live and let live, think and allow free thinking/speech are being challenged. I want to just acknowledge the theory and pay no further heed to it but something like that which creates mistrust and cynicism among people should be banned for the greater good.

Personally, I don't buy the entire love theory or any love theory. I think everyone has been "sold" this concept of all-consuming love and what not so cleverly that the card makers have it easy for V-day. Not just V-day, birthday, make-up, break-up, I love you, I don't love you - you just have to create a phenomenon to have a card.

I'm trying to stretch my memory to check if I ever bought the concept of love, but no, just as I'm sure I never liked the Spice Girls and Britney, (oh, I so wish I could say that about BSB and Boyzone, but sigh, never mind) I'm sure I never bought the all consuming love bit.

History and religion (maybe not practised religion but the stories accompanying religion) can be charged for this ridiculous sale. I've always, always respected our ancestors but this is where they let me down. Kama and his bow, really doesn't make sense. Maybe it was a story that was casually narrated to somebody and it spread like a rumour. Actually, Kama and the bow make for a great story but the idea of love doesn't make sense. Or maybe when the story was told, it made sense and through the years all our great poets and authors can be charged with filling our heads with hogwash and hyping love up to be something miraculous.

I don't understand it when people get all worked up because someone doesn't love them or doesn't love them enough. Why is what I really want to ask. Not why do you think that but why should they? I mean, going by the insanely exaggerated definition of love, why should they place an entirely alien person and his/her interests before their own? Why should they give you so much importance? Because you give it to them? Why do you give it to them? Cos you're hooked to that idea, aren't you? Is it so necessary to cling to some fancy thread? Don't you get enough love at home?

It'd be wonderful to believe that God or whoever is responsible for making us fall in love wants us to experience what it is like to put someone else before ourselves. After all, that is one of the qualities one attributes to God, but do we really? Do we really put someone else before ourselves, if it is possible to fall out of love with someone? Or when polygamy/andry is unacceptable? Assuming of course, the more you love, the better

Don't jazz it up, if you can't live it jazzed up, should be the law. I don't find myself in throes of passion, except for may be a book or an exclusive painting or something but I think that's labeled by the couples as being "possessive" - I'm sure I "want" it and I "don't want" anybody else to have it, more so if it is shoes.

Does this make me a cynic? Do you want to analyse me to find out when I became a cynic? I'm not against love, if it makes you happy, sure call it what you please but don't get all antsy because some person you know for two months or two years isn't doing exactly what you want him/her to. Do you do everything your parents ask of you? I would like to know what happened to the ardent realists we had in college, those who now profess love and marriage? The Rand supporters, where are they?

In my rather useless opinion, everyone is just afraid of loneliness. Of dying alone if you will. Of spending those last few years alone, especially the times when you are more dependent on those around you. You know you can't have your parents around you forever, so you need somebody else. There is a fine line between caretaker and spouse and I'm sure it's not crossed by mouthing senseless words. Shouldn't the best compliment you give somebody be, I feel for you what I feel for my parents. And if that is love, then so be it.