Love is Selfish

There was a time when even God, the creator of the Universe feared Love and how complete his creation was. According to Plato, in the Greek mythology, Humans were born, joined to their better half. They had a head but with two faces, a body with 2 pairs of hands and legs. Even if the entire world went dark they still had each other, they would still hold each other. They were strong and fast and proud and the key to all of this was simply Love.

Eventually, Zeus, got scared that if these humans were so strong they would eventually forget their own creator. So he ordered his son, Apollo, to cut them off in two parts and turn their heads to where they had been cut. This way the human could see his/her wound and realize that this spot has to be filled. Then Apollo would separate them forever until they found each other. They would long and long and long and long…They prayed to find their soulmates or their separated half but seldom was their prayer answered. This is just so cruel and all of this is on the Gods but even if we don’t believe this, aren’t we all just longing for that one person? The one person who would fill the deep, gloomy and empty hole of our life. Up until this time love was kind, humble, strong and bold. But what is love now?

“Love is selfish, horrible, messy, and still bold!” says Ellie Chu from the beautiful movie ‘The half of it’. I would also like to add that love is jealous too! At first it didn’t make sense to me either. But in today’s world if a person likes a person and not even loves and if it is mutual, they decide to spend all their life together. Isn’t it just so naive? And god forbid if it isn’t mutual, we hear about rapes and acid attacks and murders. Not only has the person mutilated their chances of finding their love but also of the victim’s. Doesn’t this just make love selfish? And even if you are with the person whom you love the most but if the person does not feel the same, you let them go. Yes, if you love a person you should let them go… but when will this world understand that? That is why the above quote makes total sense and I think some of you will definitely agree with me!

Also, people are still unfamiliar with the concept of love. Someone rightly said, “People fear what they don’t understand.” Love is something like that. Just because people don’t know how to love they are fearful of even trying to love. It is mentioned in the bible as well, ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.’

And there is another problem! The problem is stopping others from mastering this art of beauty! Yes, love is also jealousy. The Greek mythology even has a story on this. Orion was a beautiful, strong and a wise man. He was a source of attraction. One day on his hunt he met Artemis, the goddess of fertility. Both decided to hunt together and this resulted in the beginning of a great love story. They used to spend a lot of time together and this was noticed by Apollo. Apollo was too mesmerized by Orion’s beauty but he was jealous of how his sister Artemis shared such a bond with a mortal like Orion. He wished for that bond but as he was Apollo, the God of sun and light, all mortals who stood close to him would perish. Filled with jealousy and enviousness, he ordered a scorpion to kill Orion. Orion being unable to defeat the scorpion, jumped in the ocean to flee. Apollo deceived Artemis by saying that a wicked man who hurt Opos

(Artemis’s closest friend) is fleeing and that his scorpion is chasing him. Without confronting Opos, Artemis decided to kill the wicked man. With her bow, she cut through Orion’s head. Apollo’s plan had succeeded and he ran away. Later when she came to know about the treachery, she felt so sad that to honour her love for Orion, she placed him among the stars, and that is how we got the constellation of Orion! If we relate this to our lives, all of us have experienced this and it is our tendency to feel this way. It is just like I say, “Love is jealousy and we are all willing to be jealous for it! ”

But what about 'bold'? Surprisingly the only thing which is alive in today’s Love is being bold. Why? Because people are still willing to make bold choices and bold beliefs and bold hopes for finding their other half who would stop their heart from sinking. People are still willing to make ‘bold strokes’ on their already good or bad or mediocre paintings all hoping for a more beautiful and bold stroke. Why do you think we do that? Why would we want to risk our painting made up of our own different shades? The answer is simple! We humans want to excel at the most beautiful and mysterious art of life and that is ‘Love’. Because we know the only thing which will keep us at peace and tranquility is love and life will have a meaning. Many of us say it is money or food or comforts. But soon after you complete your puzzle, our opinions will match. Lend your canvas to everyone who wants to make a stroke and your brush to anyone who wants a stroke. Often, many strokes will make your canvas black and it is obvious. Don’t be afraid to get hurt because a single stroke from the right person will make your sky orange with a hint of cherry pink, your grass greener and wetter, your face pink and your stomach full of butterflies. So I would like to ask you, how far will you go? Is this your boldest stroke?

The title was incomplete before, according to me it should be - 'Love Is Selfish....Yet Bold.'