Love & Idiocy on Valentine's Day

On this day when we in America, especially Hallmark, Hershey's, and your local FTD florist, celebrate St. Valentine and true love, let us put to rest the notion that Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told.  It is not.  Romeo and Juliet meet, marry, and kill themselves all within a week's time.  If the Darwin Awards existed in the 16th century, these two certainly would have been in the running for a top ten finish, with a distinct possibility of being named Grand Champions.  Love did not produce the tragedy in this play.  As with most tragedies that befall those under 20, this one occurred when a lethal mixture of teenage hormones and stupidity came together.

If you want to read a real love story, pick up O. Henry's, "The Gift of the Magi," a very short story, that you will all recognize from school, but now that you are older and many of you are married, you'll appreciate it more than ever.

Having been married almost thirty years, I present three pieces of advice about falling, being, and staying in love:

1)  Jealousy has no place in love.  Love does not mean that you can't live without someone, it means that you can, but that you choose not to.

2)  Fight fairly.  Just because you know exactly your dearly beloved's most vulnerable spot doesn't mean you should exploit it.  After all, you're not besieging the Alamo, you're just fighting with your spouse.

3)  Love and marriage should be fun.  If it ain't, something's wrong.  Don't spend time "working on your relationship."  This is Life, not Dr. Phil; it shouldn't be work it should be fun.  Therefore, go out and fall helplessly, irrationally, and insanely in love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Comments

[Dan Kauffman]

"let us put to rest the notion that Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told. It is not. Romeo and Juliet meet, marry, and kill themselves all within a week's time. If the Darwin Awards existed in the 16th century, these two certainly would have been in the running for a top ten finish, with a distinct possibility of being named Grand Champions."

Ahahahahahaha, you get an A+ sir. Literally, of course.

[Melissa Dodge]

"The Gift of the Magi" is a nice tale of sacrificial love and another example of how Cupid plays us like pawns and delights at our expense. I'm a bit more drawn to those cases of accidental and unexpected love. Love that is not necessarily of the romantic variety but is life altering and informing. Austin, I know your background as a high school English teacher has exposed you to scads of literature designed to challenge and enlighten young adults. As an elementary teacher and great devourer of children's literature let me introduce you to the world of author/illustrator Patricia Polacco. If her works "The Christmas Tapestry", "Thank You Mr. Falker", "Pink and Say", and "Mr. Lincoln's Way" don't bring a tear to your eye and expand your heart just a bit then there's just no hope for you!

Thanks for expanding my literary world---I've not read that piece before---I was worried at first it might end up a bit like Maupassant's "The Necklace".

[JohnLL]

Austin, you know what 21st century 9th graders laugh at the most in R & J? Not the stupidity, or the tights- all that "What,ho!" comments in the story. I have to stop, every single stinkin' year, and explain that the comment does not mean what they think it means. Landscaping, anyone? :)

[Austin]

Melissa, thanks for giving the blog such a literate and classy tone! That was a very thoughtful response.

John, in all the time I was in landscaping, I never had a plant or paver talk back to me or giggle over stupid stuff. I feel your pain, fellow English teacher, I feel your pain.

[Kim]

The Gift of the Magi was strangely familiar considering I asked my mother to buy my Christmas present off of me to buy Corey a birthday gift and he used the gift card my mom gave him to buy me a present..haha. I definitely have a greater appreciation for the story now that we are a young poor married couple ;)