Cliché‎

February 14th, 2014

Dear Listener,

I will not be the one to tell you that love is awful, nor will I be the one to tell you that it is wonderful. I should not be the one to tell you about love at all, really. There is no possible way to speak about love without sounding biased towards heartbreak or fairy tale. I'll try, though, just to say a bit.

By definition, love is "an intense feeling of deep affection". This is accurate, for the most part. It is intense, and it lives on affection.

But, as you probably know, love is really an abstract concept, created on the backs of an unforgivable amount of tears. And thus meaning, everyone's definition is a little different, the slightest bit tweaked each time.

I admit that I lack my own definition--or at least a coherent one--for I've never been in love. I've heard an array of answers about it, though, so I suppose that's what I'll be sharing.

I've heard it's great, that it'll take your breath away and send you chasing after it to some mythical land, to a kingdom at your command--or some other strange idea written by a love-struck public.

I've also heard it's terrible, just the absolute pits. That it's the type of thing that makes the Devil howl with laughter, watching a bond grow stronger than titanium, then (smirking, I imagine) watching all the tears and time put it into come unravelling out of the picture-perfect package the couple created in one, big, austerluous display.

People have told me many things. The small-town diner girl described it as a supernova on Earth--in a good way, I suppose. I met a sharply dressed journalist at the airport in Atlanta who experienced a love that turned his life into a Disney film--although, he admitted later that, while he got the 'happily', he did not get the 'happily ever after'. 

The hairdresser on Second Street told me nothing but, and I quote, "It'll rip off your wig right when you start to believe you're pretty." but the dry cleaner's assistant (a small child of eight years) told me it's the kind of thing you try to do to achieve happiness. He did not tell me whether one accomplished their goal to be happy or not. So, if you get the chance, take some time to talk to the dry cleaner's assistant. Ask him about love and happiness. He's an interesting kid, and wise beyond his years.

Whatever love is really, I do hope you have it, or find it soon, because what I do know is that it changes a person immensely. It pushes them into a newer self, one wiser, one older, one better or worse.

Regardless of what you do, Godspeed you, in all your ventures.

Sincerely,

Narrator