What if Shakespeare had it all wrong? If love’s more of a curse and less of a gift, if relationships are supposed to be tried without the heartache and mourning period which consumes more time than most relationships ever do? What if all these songs, these unattainable, extremely beautiful, slow and sincere ballads falsely tell us to hold out for that one true love when the reality is that she (or he) will never come?

I am wondering if I’ll ever know what its like to be in love or rather if I need to? I find it difficult to imagine my life incomplete until I find her, the one that God intended for me. Particularly in a world that is wrought with confusion, selfishness, and mystery — what if I never find her what if that was somehow not meant to be? What is the point of setting myself up for consistent disappointment instead of living with as much immediacy as I have in me?

Now don’t get me wrong … I’m not speaking though recent pain or the desire to find life anew but rather the sincere desire to know why it is we as a culture invest so much in these idyllic perceptions of what life could or should be instead of dealing with what is and what has come to be?

Perhaps I should file this away with everything else in my “I was born in the wrong damn time and will never understand any of this” folder … maybe one day it will all be made clear, but for the time being I’ll continue to contemplate the ways the love shared between Romeo and Juliet can actually be applied to the life that I lead.

DJ