UNREQUITED LOVE


 

There is only one PERFECT ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP possible, and that is one of Unrequited Love.  The very moment your relationships become tangible, they also automatically involve another human... and ALL humans are flawed.  Therefore once you involve another one of our species in your love interest, you make it reliant on an imperfect being... thus making the relationship imperfect.


 

To further prove that Unrequited Love truly is the only kind that is perfect, dictionaries rarely even attempt to define the word "unrequited".  The closest most come is the word "requite" which is defined as: 1) making repayment for a service or benefit 2) to retaliate for or avenge 3) to give or do in return - which happens to be the closest to what we are looking for.


 

If REQUITED LOVE is love that we receive in return for our loving someone, then it stands to reason that UNREQUITED LOVE is love we give... that we DO NOT get in return.  Basically I define that as love that you have in your head and heart, but does not involve someone giving love back to you.  Therefore, since it exists only in your mind, it is in effect PERFECT.  It is untouched by another human soul.  It is not tarnished.  It is a PERCEPTION and therefore it is A REALITY... which you might notice is a big theme for me!  :-) 


 

Taking that secret love out of your mind and heart and actually letting the other person in on your feelings fouls your perfect perception of them (the object of your love) and forces you to accept them with all their faults, quirks, blemishes, and imperfections.  So that kind of love is imperfect by nature.  Maybe that will help next time you find yourself in a relationship - or a crisis that one causes.


 

Please don't misinterpret this to mean that I am somehow AGAINST getting my love in return.  I am not.  I am, in fact, a hopeless romantic, in a state of constant need for getting my love in return.  I only offer these words to help you out when you suddenly find yourself in a love situation and find it flawed (usually because your mate and yourself simply are flawed).  LOVE... REAL LOVE... requires a large amount of acceptance.  It is not PERFECT.  It is often PERFECTLY WONDERFUL, though!


 

Republicans Vrs. Democrats


 

Before you start throwing sticks and stones at me, let me first say that I am regisitered Independent, not Republican nor Democrat.  If forced to define myself, I would not say I am a Conservative nor am I a Liberal.  I would call myself a Moderate.  All that being said...


 

I have long professed that it was always best to keep a bunch of Democrats in office and a bunch of Republicans there as well.  At the national level I thought it always best to have a White House of one party and a Congress of the other.  I believed strongly that way because I never wanted one side or the other to go crazy their way and mess up the greatest nation on the planet, the good old U. S. of A.  I thought the founding fathers were not only wise, but BRILLIANT when they set this government up to be for the people, by the people, and of the people.  I have always professed that this nation's government was darn near perfect, just fouled by imperfect politicians.  I thought it treason like for congress to give a president - ANY president - the right to attack another country without the full backing and yes, CONSENT of Congress.  I felt the Founding Fathers really knew what they were doing when they set this deal up in such a way that no one man had such power.  And I still feel that way.  I think Congress should wrestle back the power they gave the Presidency a few years ago when we invaded Iraq... for the second time, by the way.


 

While I remain resolute on our balance of power between the White House and Congress, now I have to revise my thoughts on keeping the White House of one party and Congress of another.  We have come upon troubled times and now we actually have things that MUST get done.  We can not still have a bunch of one group blindly and staunchly voting against the other group simple because they ARE of the other group.


 

We can't get health care figured out because back in the early 70's Nixon proposed a Universal Health Care system so similar to the one currently being backed by the White House in 2009 that it is scarey.  Then Senator Kennedy (among many others) trashed the proposal simply because Nixon was a Republican and they were Democrats.  Now we have the same thing happening, but in reverse.  Democrats in the White House proposing one thing, Republicans all standing together to block any such thing.  And, people, ultimately this is to the detriment of WE, THE PEOPLE.


 

Because Democrats and Republicans no longer represent us, which is the one and only thing they are supposed to do.  All they do NOW is represent Republicans and Democrats.  It doesn't matter if one thing or another is good for the American PEOPLE.  It just has to do with R's and D's.


 

And I'm sick of it.


 

I'm sick of R's and D's acting the way they do.  I'm sick of R's and D's representing only R's and D's.  I want someone in office that represents AMERICANS.  Because I'm an AMERICAN, ladies and gentlemen.  I'm not an R or a D.  And those who profess to be R's and D's are no longer AMERICANS.  They don't give a damn about you and me.  Do you REALLY think they can still relate to us?  We work for a living.  We're not rich.  We go to fight wars.  We pay the taxes for the money they spend.  We attend the schools they say are fit.  WE ARE THE AMERICANS... and we are this nation's hope. 


 

I guess maybe it will take a revolution of some kind, but I propose a new party, an AMERICAN party.  One that sometimes is liberal, sometimes conservative.  Sometimes left, sometimes right... but ALWAYS for the majority of the people and ALWAYS for the good of this NATION and it's wonderful, spectacular PEOPLE.


 

This AMERICAN party would find some way to respond when an AMERICAN city is seriously damaged by a hurricane.  This AMERICAN party would find some way to rebuild SOMETHING in replace of the twin towers.  This AMERICAN party would realize that WE want a bailout, and if you want us to buy an American car, then give US a voucher that says we'll get $20,000 off the sticker price.  Then, if we want a car, we would buy a car.  If not, that voucher would go back into a pool for the NEXT American to buy a car IF he needs one and so on.  That way GM would STILL sell cars... but we would all have had a chance to buy them.


 

And when they start thinking about bailing out banks and stock companies that have royaly screwed we the AMERICANS over, well, maybe they should JAIL the thieves that did it, not give them piles of cash that my kids will have to pay for.


 

So how about if we try to create a THIRD PARTY, the AMERICAN PARTY and let that party represent ME... and I bet it would represent YOU to.  Then we could call our country US again!


 

DEATH


 

They say there are only two things that are totally unavoidable, those would be Death and Taxes.  Assuming that's true - and you could make a good case for it - then I thought I should take a crack at them in the next two sessions.


 

As near as I can figure it, there are really only two basic schools of thought when it comes to death.  Either you die, then your spirit/soul/ what have you moves on to a different place (Heaven hopefully... or should I say "prayerfully") or you die... and then simply cease to exist.


 

I'd like to tackle the latter first, because I often like to do things backwards.  If when a person dies he simply ceases to exist, then it would seem fairly well senseless to even give the slightest thought to dying.  After all, if all there is to Life is a simple passing out of this world into NOTHING, well, why worry about it?  You'll be none existant.  You won't regret not being alive or wishing you did this or that or had this or that.  You simply won't BE any more.  So there is nothing to care about or worry over.  Just stop even thinking about dying.


 

If, on the other hand, once we move out of this world or plane of existance or whatever you wish to call it, some special part of us moves on... well, then that would be truly wonderful.  If there really is something unique about us as individuals and that something remains no matter what, then you have something to CONSIDER - but still not worry about.


 

This has a whole lot to do with what kind of human you wish to be, and don't kid yourself into thinking that you can justify what you do by some sort of reasoning.  If you purchase this idea of a "life after death", then you almost always buy into the idea that how you are on this earth somehow effects the next phase of your existance.  That would mean that you have to be "good" while you walk among the humans so you might walk among the angels later, in another life.


 

The trouble with that is how we humans define "good".  And right off the bat you have a problem because you have included a human in your way of thinking... and humans are flawed.  Humans have PERCEPTIONS of what they think is true and real and just.  There's no way I could ever get to the bottom of every single nuance of every single belief system, I truly can't.  What I will ask you to do, dear Reader, is to at least acknowledge the fact that you are engaging in a BELIEF SYSTEM.  Please refrain from telling me that God told you to do some awful thing so you blew up a building or a school bus or a pizza joint.  God didn't do that.


 

YOU did that.


 

Or more specifically, your flawed brain invented the idea of it and you managed to convince yourself that God was involved.  But He wasn't.  It was just you, and if we could ever get you to live long enough without blowing yourself up, eventually you'd probably get older and see that.


 

Unfortunately, while the above is a bit of an extreme example, the rest of our belief systems are pretty much the same, although probably a little less extreme.  What you take on faith and believe is fine by me... as long as that brain of yours doesn't conjure up the idea that you are going to blow me up because God told you to.  That is delusional, my dear readers, and that just IS.  If anything, that little voice in your head that you think is God, might very well be playing for the OTHER team... which, if you think about it, makes more sense.


 

Let me convince Joey that those OTHER people are "wrong" and must be irradicated from the earth.  Then let me convince Joey that this little voice he hears is coming from the upstairs apartment and not the basement.  Not we've got little Joey completely fooled and convinced that his "cause" is just and must be fulfilled.


 

All that's nonsense, of course, but to a mind that can be molded like Joey's his PERCEPTION OF REALITY becomes askewed... and the next thing you know the World Trade Center blows up, or a hugely powerful country invades another country to ward of an axis of evil.  It happens all the time, which is why I am writing PERECEPTION IS REALITY.  I want people to be a little more leary of their belief systems and try to rise above fanaticism.


 

We have to be careful of what we think about.  We have to consciously be aware that EVERYTHING MATTERS, not just what we choose to matter.  Not to preach here, but I always thought one of the best ideas was, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  That makes a lot of sense to me.


 

But will ANY of that get you onto the next plane of existance?  Maybe God will take into account that you had deleuded yourself into thinking that you were doing some vile act for Him and set you up with the 72 virgins (by the way, were do you figure those 72 virgins come from?  Does God set you up with them right from Heaven or are they also dead women who somehow managed to avoid the act of sex while on Earth?  And once you manage to be with one of them, do you get a replacement - because now you only have 71 virgins?  And doesn't that just smack of a world run by MALES who take absolutely no interest in the simple fact that about half the souls on this planet are FEMALE?  Or is is just so flawed that it is pretty easy to understand that is plain and simply a case where a brain has convinced itself that it's hearing voices... that are really coming from itself?  But that's a different subject for a different day). 


 

I'm going to ask you to make an assumption that we have been espousing for generations, the idea that God is love.  Well, what if God IS Love?  I mean, literally a being truly made out of love?  You say it all the time.  But what if it's true?


 

Well first off I can plainly tell you that IF God IS Love, then everything you do that is somehow foul of Love would be an abomination to Him.  And if you engaged in activities out of hate, then you are estranging yourself from God.  So blowing up your neighbor because you hate them, would plainly be a thing that would work against you and this concept of an after life, or at least one where you hang out with God a lot.


 

Based on that idea, that God IS Love, then every time an idea that pops into your head that is full of hate, right off that bat you know where that diea is coming from - and you dismiss it.  Because it is NOT of God or from God or however you want to put it.  It is from YOU and your own hatred or from a source that you really shouldn't want to mess around with, especially not if you have some idea of going to a place like Heaven. 


 

So, therefore, you should only engage in ideas that express or have to do with Love.  I highly recommend that to help clarify your thinking.


 

But there is more.


 

Most people think that the polar opposite of Love is Hate, but this is not true.  Hate and Love run pretty close together, actually, and careful analysis is required to make sure what you are thinking is of Love, not Hate.  No, the polar opposite of Love is...


 

APATHY.


 

Apathy is defined as an absence of emotion or a lack of interest or concern.  This is probably the worst case scenario for human beings.  We were not put on this earth to not give a damn.  We are put here to have passion and to feel things deeply.  We are supposed to do things with gusto.  Do not let your mind go so dark as to have no interest in Life, for that has just got to be boring to God... and that would seem like an abomination.


 

So either there is nothing after life and we just cease to exist or the more popular idea that there some sort of after life and you would be better off going to the better place than the worse place.  Either way, there is nothing to worry about.  Live your life with zest and a joy for living, don't do anything to others that you would prefer not happen to you, understand that God is Love and messing around in thoughts that are not about love could be detrimental to your death, and my estimation is you will be fine.


 

I have friends that will tell you that certain beliefs are essential to admittance to Heaven.  One of the biggest of those is believing that Jesus is the Son of God.  Many say that you must have this one thought and all others will be ignored.  I somewhat agree that if you really read the New Testamint (and by all means DO understand that the OLD Testamint and the NEW Testamint are NOT the same book... a simple reading should tell you that, but that's a subject for another day too), and you understand what Jesus is saying there, you should come to the conclusion that God is Love and therefore this is tied in together.  Those folks do usually say things that are odd like, "deeds don't matter... it's all about this faith that Jesus is the Son of God.  I contend that deeds DO matter, but I can concede that if you really believed in Jesus, you would just naturally only do Love things, or things that are motivated by Love.


 

In conclusion I highly recommend you only let thoughts of Love into your heart and soul.  First, it might help you out in a distant time.  Second, it'll make this old world a better place for all the fellow inhabitants that share it with you.  So much would be so much better if we ALL could just live lives filled with Love.  I truly believe that is God's ultimate goal with people, to see if we can ever figure it out that He is all about Love, that if we could ever stop hating or not caring at all, that we would finally "get it". 


 

And the world would be a better place.