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| We fail to see the Ocean for the Waves |
That ‘true love triumphs’,
a time-tested belief accepted by the human race from the days of Adam and Eve,
still stands tall giving testimony to the power of love. Love has many
connotations; many hues and colors like the working of human minds. Well,
efforts put in by etymologists to define the term love go flat since it is not
defined by words but by one’s feelings and emotions.
But then, our shimmering
passions for love only make us look at its pinnacle since most of us are not
able to reach it because of varied reasons. ‘Love is God; love is divine; love
is bliss and peace; and love is blind too’ are some of the emotional outbursts
we indulge in all through our life without experiencing or feeling all the
dimensions of love or without our being able to reach its crest.
To many of us, love is the
foam crested waves that are lashing at the shore. We always look at the waves
only and not at the fathomless depth of an ocean. It is so easy to look into
dots and miss the sight of the picture. Our mental vacation is so crude that it
happens without our knowing it.
An ailing, but obstinate
child nags her mother for a cup of ice cream and cries her head off when it is
denied. Seemingly, the mother has a heart of stone in not yielding to the
demand of her child, but truly she is the incarnation of love as she is more
concerned with the health of her daughter than her crying for ice cream. A
father is too revealing his concern and love for his teenage daughter when he
reproaches her for speaking on her cell phone at midnight. Such a father and
mother are on the crest of love since they think their mollycoddling of their
children may spoil their well-being and safety.
Sometimes, you may see a
man, with good physique, standing at a street corner and craving the passers-by
for alms. Instead of giving him a few bucks as your counterparts are doing, you
may get him a job and make him live decently. Through such an admirable action
you show your love for the society. Sure, your noble act makes you reach out to
the pinnacle of love where the Angel of Love welcomes you with a curtsy as she
is happy with your displaying of a rare gesture and responding to the
unexpressed needs of a beggar.
Lee Kuan Yew, the former
Prime Minister of Singapore, showed an altogether different dimension of love
for his country when he brought forth a host of capital punishments to rein the
occurrence of crimes and to make Singapore a heaven of peace and one of the
developed nations in Asia. He did this with an iron hand for the well-being of
the people.
It is not uncommon in life
to see a person make the other suffer. But, if the cause for making others
suffer is to see them happy ultimately, then such an action can be called love
… love in disguise. Lee Kuan Yew did this to his country and god, too, is doing
this to many of us quite often.
There are people with
questionable characters who get things done for others by dubious means: from a
drunkard by making him tipsier and from a crazy woman by giving her gold and
diamonds. This is always done in the name of love. But, love can never be
manipulated. It must never be used to make others do what you want. When you
love someone, you must never ask them to sacrifice even a part of themselves in
the name of love. This form of manipulation contaminates our love for others.
Eventually, love is the
name of the relationship we are trying to have with someone who are closer to
us. Rather, it’s a sort of fine feelings … an intention to serve the well-being
of others, which may, sometimes, get crowned or crucified. Just read what
Kahlil Gibran has to say about love:
“When love beckons to you,
follow him/ though his ways are hard and steep/and when his wings enfold you,
yield to him/though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you/And when
you speaks to you, believe him/ though his voice may shatter your dream as the
north wind lays waste the garden.”
Image courtesy: Google
