While we have talked about “Love” in previous posts, it has been awhile and the discussion is always ongoing. I appreciate the words of one author, in her discussion of the powerful influence of media. She writes that it took her 30 years to discover important aspects of ethical relationships that she had never seen reflected on TV. And when people’s expectations for love come primarily from the media, their hearts and minds are set-up for disappointment.
I see couple after couple who enter marriage with the image they have seen on the movie screen, ingrained in their brain. “Two strangers meet, it is love at first site, they run in slow motion across the screen, embrace, with beautiful fireworks in the background, and experience “happily ever after.” However, these couples get home with their new mate, discovering within the first week that their expected ideal is not reality. What to do?
When marriages are based on the fantasy picture, broken dreams are certain to follow. However, when two flawed individuals are committed to each other with a deeper and richer love, the future can unfold quite differently. Love does not have to be mysterious. When it is based upon a decision to treat another person with the kind of behaviors that we ourselves long for, it can be a thing of beauty. Enduring love transcends the shallowness of 90 minute romantic dramas on the movie theatre.
My tip today – rather than holding on to low media expectations for love, which can be as fickle as the weather, decide to love with the diligence and determination the leads to a lifetime journey.