An ex-girlfriend once told me when we broke up that I needed to be more realistic. That relationships weren't like the ones in movies or books. "Be serious," she said, "and look around for once."
The all-too-common sentiment in the world today is that life will never truly be like we imagine. Hopes and dreams are a separate world from reality; rarely, some say, will they ever actually connect where you want them to. Chivalry is often overtaken by cynicism; fascination by trepidation; wonder by disenchantment. Fiction and cinema may provide several hours of escape, but when the credits roll or the last page turns the illusion is gone.
But if this is the case, where does the inspiration for such media even come from? How can playwrights, authors, and directors tell their stories if they have nothing to draw from? Granted, every romance may not follow the precedented script and resolve its conflict just in time for the climax of the third act, but the potential for transcendence exists nonetheless. If one does not find themself in a giddy, blissful, uplifting, euphoric, smile-on-your-face-as-you-fall-asleep kind of sentiment because of someone else at least once in their life, it is truly an unfortunate existence.
Granted, the males are generally much more to blame then our lovelier counterparts for the sad state of modern romance (in the older, broader sense as well as the accepted normal definition). However, for every group of shallow men driven by ego, lust, and compensation, there still remains at least one helpless romantic. One that really believes in that real connection, the overwhelming feeling of contentment and joy that she can introduce into his life whenever he finally finds her (whoever she may be).
Love? No. An eighteen-year-old doesn't write about love. He knows the love of family and friends, of camraderie and life, of Lord. But not that love-- not the one that may only come once in life. THE love. Maybe he finds it in weeks, or maybe not until his hair is white and his youth gone. But if he is one of the stalwarts, he believes he will find it.
There is a way to put some color in an oft-gray reality for those skeptics. Something that can put a spark back in their eye and a purpose in their step. To bring a quiet smile when there seems no logical reason for one. To lay awake at night if only to keep thinking-- but still sleeping to dream. To be the man they as a child wished they would grow up to be, even if only to one other person. To realize that stress is an unnecessary exercise and throw caution to the wind.
How? It's easy.
Just look around for once.
15 years ago
