When I first quoted the Beatles with “All you need is love”, it wasn’t a surprise that everyone just stared at me as if I were some ignorant kleptomaniac, mainly because:
a) I’ve never been kissed
b) I’m in an all girls’ school (ever since I was 7)
c) I’ve never been in a single relationship
d) I’m a virgin
And most importantly,
e) I’ve never actually been in love.
Yes. I know. You can stop laughing now.
But who said I was talking about romantic love? I meant love in general, be it platonic love, familial love or romantic love.
Love has got to be the one thing that can never be figured out. It seems strange that this cryptic thing is so prevalent in our lives, so ubiquitous. Sniff a little and you might smell it, love sizzling like static, hanging onto every particle, every droplet of moisture present in the air.
Love is connected to practically everything in this world: sad love songs, ballads, movies, books, even your own home, within your own heart. What I fail to comprehend is the fact that some - in fact, most - people refuse to acknowledge its existence.
Ask the person next to you, “Do you believe in love?” A shrug, a nonchalant wave of the hand is their cold response. What has love ever done to deserve such dismissal? What is it that has blinded these people to the beauty of love? Can they not see it in their Korean dramas, their pop songs, their chick lit books, their boyfriends?
Go to the cinema and you will not find a single movie that does not have an inkling of love inside. Look at Transformers. In between the robot duels, exploding buildings and speeding cars, the two main characters still have time to fall in love. Then look at the His Dark Materials Trilogy (Think Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman. Lyra falls in love with Will in the end, but they have to separate because, heartbreakingly enough, they live in different dimensions. Hello, if a twelve year old blonde girl sitting atop a polar bear could fall in love with a boy living in another world, I’m sure you could too.
I’m talking about romantic love here, because, frankly, everything stems from romantic love. How do you think you were born? Because your parents made love. Your parents were once in love, are in love, and that’s how you got here, that’s how the whole family came along. And from there, comes familial love. Of course, if you weren’t born in the first place, you wouldn’t even have platonic love, or any friends for that matter.
I may not have much experience in the romance department, but hey: I’ve had my fair share of the belly flips, the pulling of heartstrings, the intakes of shallow breaths and vivid, fantastical dreams. I admit that I have never been in love, but I think that puppy love does count. And from what I’ve experienced of it, it’s not such a bad thing. In fact, being in love (albeit puppy love) must have been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t remember the last time I had ever felt so happy, with him sitting across the table from me and all sorts of fantasies running through my head.
Of course, I’m back to being normal; mundanely out of love. But doesn’t everyone like the idea of their potential soul mate, somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight?
Many people laugh at the fact that love at first sight can exist. I have no doubts about being able to fall in love within a second, and I don’t see why others should. They say they are disillusioned by love, heartbroken after being dumped. I have had my fair share of tears and the doldrums (you know, when the guy you like likes someone else etc, and all you can do is just pray, hope, wish that he’d come to his sense and pick you), and I remember when I used to cry after listening to corny love songs, because practically every song reminded me of him. But this is only the downside of love. After all the happiness love brings into your life, don’t you think it would be accompanied by a little dose of sadness? This downside should not make you doubt the power of love, this downside is insignificant compared to the happiness and joy that love brings.
I cannot even begin to understand why people are grossed out by love. They shun their family members, embarrassed to be seen in public with the; some even say they hate their parents. You know, I could sympathize if your parents were child abusers, drunkards, wanted terrorists, rapists etcetera, but these teenagers have perfectly normal parents. Okay, so I don’t know some of them; but from what I read on public blogs - these children? Yeah, they throw a tantrum and blurt out colourful four-lettered expletives because their parents refuse to buy an ipod for them, misunderstand their teenage angst, yelled at them for smoking, slapped them for refusing to use a condom and yadda yadda yadda.
Are those things even a big deal? It happens to me all the time (except for the condom and smoking parts) and I don’t think you see me going berserk. I don’t think it’s fair to condemn our parents to burning in the fiery pits of hell just because they were trying to protect us, guide us into being good people out of their love for us. These kids just don’t see the love their parents have for them. God, don’t even try to throw that teenage angst excuse at me! I’ve heard it millions of times, how parents don’t understand that their teenaged children are going through the torturing and traumatic stages of adolescence, how instead of helping them, parents just scold and shout and slap.
If you’ve forgotten, your parents were once teenagers too. And do you think that they bitched about their own parents day and night? I don’t think so.
And where did all this angst come from anyway? Personally, I don’t think being a teenager is that hard. Most of us live comfortable lives; it’s not as if we’ve got to live in ditches and study by street lights. We don’t even have the peer pressure of the fearsome American high schools here in Singapore, of trying to be the coolest, the prettiest, and the bitchiest girl in school; so why have we become like this? Why are we using this excuse of teenage angst to cover up for our misdeeds? Why can’t anyone put aside all the anger, all the harsh words of our parents and see the love that emanates from their hearts; those hearts so full of good intentions, those hearts so misunderstood? If you ask me, I think that it’s parents who should get all angsty. They’ve got to worrying about their job, the bills, the money, the house and not to mention their pesky teenaged kids.
Not to sound corny, but the world would be a much, much better place if everyone just believed in love. Love is like oxygen, love lifts us up where we belong. Imagine a world full of love: no terrorists, no evil conquerors, no school bullies, no name-calling, and no quarrels with parents.
Love has got to be the best thing in the world, yet some people doubt its abilities. I know that sometimes it may seem as though your life is devoid of this blessed thing; but just look around you: the woman cuddling her baby girl, that couple blissfully strolling along the beach, that group of friends laughing and having a great time together. Look around you and you will see it with your shining eyes, you will taste it with your strawberry tongue, you will hear it with your eager ears.
And best of all, you will feel it in your beating heart; warm, fuzzy love as it spreads over like wonderfully sticky, golden honey over bread.
Finally, you will realize that with love, no door shall ever slam in your face; no tears shall ever fall from those eyes; no sorrow shall ever find you.
Only happiness, cosy and honey-like in its embrace, shall wrap its arms around you like a mother does to her child, never letting go.