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08/27/08 Note: This is something I wrote about a year ago in 2007. A lot as changed since then, but I still stand behind everything I said.
We had a discussion in my English class today that really made me think. We were discussing the modernist view on love. The example that Yeats used in one of his poems is the painting of Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When any globetrotting female walks into that chapel, is all her attention going to be on the majestic Lord, or the perfect, naked body of Adam? It would be a lie to look up at that painting and pretend that it moves you because of God, when right beside him there is this perfect human body. Humans are...human. Humans are meant to be sexual, so staring at this ideal body, it is going to cross your mind. So why is sex something that is so weird to talk about? We'll talk about just about anything with someone, but when it comes to sexual preferences, performance, and desires, everyone shuts up.
And there are those harlequin romance novels. Never will you hear the words "penis" or "vagina", it's always "manhood", "shaft", "stalk", or "her womanly juices began flowing" [haha]. Those words make a penis sound like some kind of superhuman thing, when really a penis is just a penis.That sets this fantastic idea that sex is always all about "making love" and paints the picture of some sort of fairy tale. But it's more complicated than that. Sex is carnal, it's animalistic at times, it's physical. But lonely females read these and think that's how sex is? Wrooong.
Then as we continued to discuss the topic of sex and love, we began to talk about what love really is. There are these people that set all these ideals for their lives; they have these ridiculous life goals pertaining to being with someone but these things have nothing to do with love. Some desire nothing more than to be married before they are a certain age, say, 23. Why should it matter what age you are when you find the love of your life? If these people cared anything about true love, they wouldn't care what age they were when they find that one true love. Yeah, some people get lucky and find that person when they are young, but what's the hurry? Are you going to settle for someone just because you're nearing 23? god forbid!
Others have these obsessions with actors, musicians, etc. The example we used in class was Brad Pitt. So many women say they would kill Angelina to get their hands on Brad. But what if he did show up at your door one day? That's one inflated ego, 3 kids, and who knows what else coming along with him. people these days want these idealized images of a person that just don't exist. they aren't human. The image we get of celebrities is that they are these perfect people. But it's all just a performance. They're just better at hiding all the bad qualities and shit. in some cases at least. So people base their standards on these jokes. "I want a moneymaker, i want someone who looks like so and so, etc." What ever happened to the qualities that actually matter?
Relationships are about accepting people at their best and worst. All you people wonder why you can't maintain relationships, and in my opinion, it's because you set your standards to some superhuman level. You're human, everyone else is human. We're prone to mistake. And if you can't be happy alone, then you probably can't ever be happy when you're actually WITH someone. Relationships do not solve problems such as your own discontent. Nobody can be this endless form of entertainment and happiness for someone else. No one can complete you except for yourself. Once you realize and accept that, that's when you're actually ready to give a relationship a chance.
GOD I LOVE UPPER DIVISON ENGLISH!
feedback?
We had a discussion in my English class today that really made me think. We were discussing the modernist view on love. The example that Yeats used in one of his poems is the painting of Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When any globetrotting female walks into that chapel, is all her attention going to be on the majestic Lord, or the perfect, naked body of Adam? It would be a lie to look up at that painting and pretend that it moves you because of God, when right beside him there is this perfect human body. Humans are...human. Humans are meant to be sexual, so staring at this ideal body, it is going to cross your mind. So why is sex something that is so weird to talk about? We'll talk about just about anything with someone, but when it comes to sexual preferences, performance, and desires, everyone shuts up.
And there are those harlequin romance novels. Never will you hear the words "penis" or "vagina", it's always "manhood", "shaft", "stalk", or "her womanly juices began flowing" [haha]. Those words make a penis sound like some kind of superhuman thing, when really a penis is just a penis.That sets this fantastic idea that sex is always all about "making love" and paints the picture of some sort of fairy tale. But it's more complicated than that. Sex is carnal, it's animalistic at times, it's physical. But lonely females read these and think that's how sex is? Wrooong.
Then as we continued to discuss the topic of sex and love, we began to talk about what love really is. There are these people that set all these ideals for their lives; they have these ridiculous life goals pertaining to being with someone but these things have nothing to do with love. Some desire nothing more than to be married before they are a certain age, say, 23. Why should it matter what age you are when you find the love of your life? If these people cared anything about true love, they wouldn't care what age they were when they find that one true love. Yeah, some people get lucky and find that person when they are young, but what's the hurry? Are you going to settle for someone just because you're nearing 23? god forbid!
Others have these obsessions with actors, musicians, etc. The example we used in class was Brad Pitt. So many women say they would kill Angelina to get their hands on Brad. But what if he did show up at your door one day? That's one inflated ego, 3 kids, and who knows what else coming along with him. people these days want these idealized images of a person that just don't exist. they aren't human. The image we get of celebrities is that they are these perfect people. But it's all just a performance. They're just better at hiding all the bad qualities and shit. in some cases at least. So people base their standards on these jokes. "I want a moneymaker, i want someone who looks like so and so, etc." What ever happened to the qualities that actually matter?
Relationships are about accepting people at their best and worst. All you people wonder why you can't maintain relationships, and in my opinion, it's because you set your standards to some superhuman level. You're human, everyone else is human. We're prone to mistake. And if you can't be happy alone, then you probably can't ever be happy when you're actually WITH someone. Relationships do not solve problems such as your own discontent. Nobody can be this endless form of entertainment and happiness for someone else. No one can complete you except for yourself. Once you realize and accept that, that's when you're actually ready to give a relationship a chance.
GOD I LOVE UPPER DIVISON ENGLISH!
feedback?