In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the protagonists and antagonists are after the holy grail - believed to be the cup that Christ drank from. The movie takes it one step further and claims the cup will endow eternal life upon whomever drinks from it. Eternal life? Really? Would you really want to live in this world forever? Not me. I embrace the moment of one day confidently venturing into ' the unknown country to whose bourne no traveler returns'. I think this world is purgatory guised in the illusion that it isn't. Anyway that's another 5-hour university lecture. I digress.
Our heroes in the hollywood movie reached a scene where they had all the cups lined up on a platform in front of them, each with different shapes, sizes and colours. They had to guess which was the holy grail. The 'bad guy' had first pick. He picked a golden, glowing, jewel-crested chalice - fit for a king! Within a few moments of drinking from it, the baddie started choking, convulsing, aging ridiculously fast (I'm talking seconds) and transforming into a skeleton before disappearing into a plume of ashes and smoke. I think it's safe to say he drank from the wrong cup...Next came Indy. He carefully analyzed each cup - one by one. Eventually, he picked a very dull-looking, small, inconspicuous mug. A friggin mug. That was the one! That friggin dull mug was the holy grail!
Now allow me jump in with a quick squeeze of metaphorical juice. Let us substitute these cups lined before the movie's characters, for the women that a man is presented with in his life time (or vice versa). In this purgatory of a life time. Let us also add the assumption that the holy grail is the love of his life, the soul mate, the one. A cup of her love will feel as if it is giving him eternal life. The question then remains: Which cup is she?
I don't believe in love at first sight. It would be nice to believe in it but I think you're only fooling yourself if you do. So I don't. Now I could be wrong and it could have happened to others. I tend to subscribe to the above analogy of falling in love. That is not to say that your soul mate will be an ugly, dull cup of a woman or man. At least I hope not. But then again even if he or she is, so the f**ck what? Falling in love that's the key. Falling. Not being shot by a red fluffy arrow through the chest by a freaky-looking flying baby one sunny day then telling yourself in a daze of euphoric confusion.."I love her man...it's been 10 seconds but she's definitely the one!" The preceding sentence is obviously a fictional exaggeration. My point is that I believe in the power of love. It's power to transform one's life for the better.Anything that is capable of doing that will take time to take hold of your system and values. It's not an overnight thing. If it is, then you're just very shallow or easily swayed or both.
(Just out of curiosity why does the saying use the word 'falling'? Why not rising? Is love not supposed to be a Utopian sensation that involves walking on the clouds, feeling like you're in heaven, being naturally high etc. So why falling? Think about that one Mr. English language)
I believe love, like a tree, is cultivated, cared for and grown with time.If it is rooted in a strong and firm foundation its powerful trunk will weather even the most destructive storms. Otherwise if poisonous fluids and external influences are allowed (key term: ALLOWED) to infiltrate its inner system its potential is withered away and the tree will be up-ended directly from its roots. Timber! The best thing is knowing that, on any given day, the love for your lover is the greatest it has been than on any previous day. In other words, the love is growing.
People, these days, use the L-Word (that is love, not lesbian) too freely. They say it to cover up for feelings of insecurity. They use it to manipulate, to white lie, to sugar coat genuine feelings. Don't ever do that. You're only harming yourself. Say it when you mean it..and say what you need to say. If you pour any liquid into a cup too quickly or recklessly, the carelessness will just induce things to get messy. A cup of your love is filled ever so delicately - ever so perfectly. Salut.
