The whimsical vagaries of Love!

By Stanley Collymore

Does anyone really know for sure what love is really
all about? We all clearly think that we do, but
how realistic is that assumption and what
are the conclusive grounds to prompt
such a conclusion much less any
absolute certainty, particularly
when collectively there isn’t
and has never been any
unanimity whatsoever
on how each and
everyone of us
individually
perceives
love to
be?

Consequently love means, as it has always done,
different things to everyone, an observation,
let’s be candid about that, which there’s
no getting away from however much
the individual concerned might be
tempted to either conceal or
even deny to themselves
this transparent fact.
To some people, therefore, love is all about
romantic inclinations, while others view
it as nothing more than a suitable
and convenient fig leaf to mask
their solitary purpose, which
is to fruitfully indulge in
multiple assignations
or unconstrained
acts of sexual
coition.

But there are other by-products of it that one can
assertively state or unchallengeably name, like
fashioning purported loving relationships
purely for companionship sake; or
perhaps keenly partake in that time
honoured and traditional pastime,
so beloved of our British royalty
and aristocracy, of marrying
not necessarily for love
but, most imperative
for them, to preserve their
profoundly cherished,
naturally perceived
and, of course,
infinitely
precious
blood
line.

Pedigree notions of exclusivity, flimsily
but all the same expectantly based on
outrageous fantasies of genetic
superiority, which calculatingly,
quite arbitrarily and proscriptively
banish all perceived or any exploratory
disposition towards emotional entanglements
much less so the encroachment of genuine love;
the adherents of such points of view even
now in the 21st Century delusionally
convincing themselves that what
personal relationships they
ultimately need to form
must, by virtue of
the divine status hereditarily
endowed on and entrusted to
them by God himself, be
largely determined by
higher considerations
and not simply
earthly ones
alone!

These bizarre vicissitudes of life aside though
love does occasionally, if permitted to,
manifest itself in more conventional,
appealing and private ways that
quite often can and do
invariably turn out to be the mainstay of
exceptionally significant relationships that
fruitfully harvest the good in each of those
fortunate recipients while at the same
time avidly jettisoning the negative
aspects within them, which
these individuals consciously know were
these allowed to exist would eventually
in terms of their love for each other,
any prospect of a meaningful and
long-term future together, or
their general happiness
be their undoubted
Nemesis.

So however you perceive love to be; what you
personally expect to beneficially derive from it or
even entrust to it yourself if as expectantly you
meet what you consider to be not only the
right person to fall in love with but also
to freely and willingly share your life
with too, do remember that to be committedly
in love is as diametrically divergent from
wishful thinking on matters amorous
as anything ever could be; has to be
worked at assiduously in every
way, and shouldn’t be confused
or confine itself only to the
propagandistic, banal or
commercial importunities
corporately churned out
either round about or
actually on Saint
Valentine’s
Day!

© Stanley V. Collymore
9 February 2014.

Observation:
They say that love is in the eye of the beholder; curiously there’s no mention of lust which features more prominently than love in many, and arguably so the overwhelming majority of personal relationships that are either consensually or otherwise engaged in within our contemporary world. So where precisely, biologically speaking, is lust located?

Make the most of your Valentine’s Day and the opportunities, either handed to you on a platter or concertedly devised by you, that that day presents. However caution is advised and a few words of warning to boot in your shell-like! Namely, that whether you partake of these offered opportunities maturely or for that matter childishly is you affair, literally speaking, just as long as you’re prepared to accept the consequences that stem from your actions/activities on that day and accordingly deal effectively and accountably with them, and not expect the responsible members of your society or community come to that to be left with picking up the customary burdensome, financial tab for your casual and societally detrimental indiscretions!