14th of February, needless for me to remind you, it's Valentine's Day. The first thought that came to most if not all of you must've been love and romance. Well, that's what the society has imposed on us. In return, we accepted the idea without question. Why? I guess it's pretty simple: We need something to believe in, we need something to hold onto, perhaps what we need is a little hope that there's still love out there for us. In a sense this thirst for love is universal because everyone celebrates it regardless of race, religion, age, sex etc. I could be wrong but it's just a personal hypothesis of mine.
As this widely celebrated day approaches its end this year, let us take some time to ponder or reflect on this thing known as love. Love can be tangible, intangible or even both depending on the context and how you see it. I believe that many of us often see love in couples infatuated with each other, holding hands and doing whatever that reminds you of the word "love". When I say "many of us" earlier on, it clearly includes me. However, something changed my mind on this fateful day.
There are two things that I would like to talk about today and the first being single parents. You don't have to be Einstein to be aware of the fact that divorce rates around the world has been skyrocketing due to various reasons that ranged from sensible to utter crap. I live in a small world and within this small circle alone there's already loads of divorce going on. As if that's not enough, parents fought for custody and child support, sometimes even in front of their own children. Come on, the kids are innocent for goodness' sake. I seriously can't imagine what kind of implications it will have on the children. It's a fact that it takes at least two (a man and a woman) to give birth to another (offspring), technically speaking. If this is the case and couples get together because of love, why is there such a thing as divorce? I do understand that it's a lot more complicated than what I am able to comprehend but whenever there is a child involved in divorce, one can't help but to think that it will affect him/her to a certain extent. I know that there'll always be imperfections in life but it does kills me inside whenever I see those that I care for suffer from divorce, especially the kids.
Secondly, it's about where I see the presence of love. I always think that you must be with someone in order for you to feel love and thus I've always tried to sense love from loving couples. It's a good thing to do when you're in a relationship but it kind of backfires when you're single, double-edged sword huh? Yet another irony in life. Today a fellow member of our church who also happens to be the mother of a friend of mine fell asleep in Christ. After saying our prayers, I saw her husband whose eyes were all red and watery. He was not the only who was so, a lot of her family members must've find it hard to accept the fact that it's only been a month or two since his mother went away and now - his wife. We all know that this is the reality of life and that it goes on no matter what. However, there'll still be sorrow when met with such circumstances. It saddens me as I can sense the grief they are experiencing but at the same time I see love, not in togetherness but this time in the parting between people who are now in two different worlds. I find solace in knowing that behind all the sadness, family members will get together closer than before to find comfort in each other. Instead of looking it from the usual perspective, I've chosen to look at it from another angle. I'm glad that I did so for this is a lesson learnt outside the pages of books. I might have read it before but upon experiencing it myself and seeing it from others, there's this... revelation of some sort. My deepest condolences goes out to the family who've just lost their loved ones and my prayers too are dedicated to them and those children who are troubled with all sorts of family affairs; may all of them walk out from the sadness and grief as a stronger, better person.
This question keeps appearing on my mind:"What have I done to make this world a better place to live in today?" A word of encouragement, a pat on the back or even a smile are able to light up the dark that resides within one's heart. I'm just a nobody who make mistakes too but I do hope and believe that there's love out there in this broken world and most importantly, love prevails. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there and may you always be surrounded with love but whether or not you are aware of it, that's another matter altogether. ;)
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