Monday, February 04, 2008 Tacio: All about love By Henrylito D. Tacio Regarding Henry
FEBRUARY has been touted as the love month because of February 14, which everyone knows is Valentine's Day. It's the time of the year when you see hanging hearts in department stores. Elementary school children are given the chance of expressing their love to their parents by making a card, which they would then give to their father and/or mother.
Like death and taxes, no one can escape from love. Here's what Ernest Holmes said: "Love is within us. It cannot be destroyed. It can be ignored. To the extent that we abandon love we will feel it has abandoned us. Denying love is our only problem, and embracing it is the only answer. Through the power of love, we can let go of past history and begin again. Love heals, forgives, and makes whole."
So many people have talked about this subject but my favorite description of it is from the movie adaptation of the 1993 novel written by Louis de BerniŠres, 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin.'
Listen: "Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness. It is not excitement. It is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being 'in love' which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
"Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
Hollywood stars have different views about love. "Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit," says Peter Ustinov. "Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell," Joan Crawford claims. Oprah Winfrey looks love differently, too: "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."
Famous authors have their own meanings, too. "The reduction of the universe to a single being, the expansion of a single being even to God, this is love," wrote Victor Hugo. "Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectedly and without law, and must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration," penned D.H. Lawrence
"Life and hope for the world are to be found only in the deeds of love," said Bertrand Russell. Mark Twain, as usual, had a humorous way of describing love: "After all these years I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."
Movies can be a good source of advice. In 'My Best Friend's Wedding,' this recommendation was spoken: "If you love someone you say it. You say it right then, out loud. Or the moment just passes you by." And in the movie, 'When Harry Met Sally,' I cannot forget this instruction: "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
A lot of singers get their inspiration from love. "If the sun should refuse to rise and the moon don't hang in the night. The tides won't change, seasons rearrange. When the world is through, I will still love you." That from the song 'Still' sang by 98 Degrees. John Lennon composed, "Love is the flower you've got to let grow." And here's what the Beatles wrote: "And in the end, the love we take will be equal to the love we make."
