I keep coming back to the idea of this post and for some reason the lyric from Hallelujah has been in my head all day, so I finally decided to get it down on...well not paper, screen I guess.
"Love is not a victory march, its a cold and its a broken Hallelujah"
First, I adore this song even though it makes me cry every time I hear it! I have always been drawn to this line for some reason. I take it as a "weathered" look at love, like someone who has been broken and hurt, but still finds the small hallelujahs in love and life. I feel like we all start out with this romanticized version of love, that we will find our perfect soul mate, fall in love, and live happily ever after. Then we get hurt. We cry. We vow to never love again, to never hurt again. And we do it all over. Love and relationships are really really hard work! I take this line as a statement of that.
But that is just me. When searching for the lyrics to be sure I was quoting it right, I found some very opposite veiwpoints. One woman stated that the song is "largely a disillusioned point of view about love....a bitter realization that can only break you forever." Im not going to say that I disagree with her, basically that is the feeling of the song. Its depressing, like I said, makes me cry every time. But, I don't think that singing about or looking at the depressing parts of love makes it a "disillusioned point of view." I think it honors the fact that love can hurt, it can hurt like hell actually, and still be love. The pain is just as much a part of it as the absolute joy and embracing love's entirety is what makes it so unique and amazing, and well, worth it! What do you guys think? Am I just being emotionally dramatic, true to my Pisces, introverted, psychologically minded self?! (Its ok to say yes to that!)
Anyways, this gets to the post that has been brewing in my mind about love. I believe that love can have a multitude of forms, both within an individual and throughout people in general. Personally, I use the word love to indicate many things; a strong bond with my friends, the feeling that oozes out of me when I see my pets, when I like something so much that the word "like" or even "really really like" just doesn't seem to cover it (most things purple!), the warm and comfortable love I have for my family, and of course romantic love. These feelings are infinitely different, and yet all are encompassed by the word love. I would say that there needs to be different words for each form of love, but I don't really believe that. I think that the feeling you get when you say your own versions of love are enough. Just watch someone say "I love you" to their partner and then watch someone say "Look at my new shoes, I absolutely love them!" You can see the difference in the words, you can feel it. That doesn't mean that it each isn't it's own version of love.
I have heard many people become irritated or uncomfortable when friends say "I love you" or when someone says "that singer is amazing, I just love her" and I never know how to react to that. I agree that saying you love someone who is not really close to you, or who you don't even know may make some people feel like you are discounting the idea of love. I disagree, but I understand it. Maybe we do need more words to describe the different forms. Maybe that would honor the love that people feel for shoes, movies, singers, whatever, while still honoring the profound feeling of love for family, friends, and partners. I don't know, I prefer to see it and feel it in people's use of the word, I think the minute differences are what make the word love so beautiful. What do you guys think? Would a language be better if there were different words for different types of love? Do you think that is even possible? Does it bother you when people use the word love in so many different forms?
