*to love*
loving people is not easy. to truly love others, i think it requires a selflessness that is not natural to us as humans. we've been taught survival of the fittest and to always look out for ourselves before others. have all of my needs (and wants) met first, then i will see what i've got left to give to others. sometimes, we'll go one step further, and give if asked to give. but if no one asks, then i'm not obligated.
as the madness of the christmas season begins, and we frantically count how many days we got left to get how many presents for our loved ones, i'm in a dilemma. how much do i spend on those around who already have a lot, and how little do i spend on those who have nothing? there's something wrong with this world. it's like celebrities getting free stuff all the time. cars, iphones, cosmetics, jewelery, clothes, shoes, bags..... of all the people in the world, they are the ones who can afford to pay for those things! meanwhile, the best we can do for the less fortunate is to give them our used goods.
what's wrong with this picture?
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intake, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly save from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
~ C.S Lewis
The Four Loves
loving people is not easy. to truly love others, i think it requires a selflessness that is not natural to us as humans. we've been taught survival of the fittest and to always look out for ourselves before others. have all of my needs (and wants) met first, then i will see what i've got left to give to others. sometimes, we'll go one step further, and give if asked to give. but if no one asks, then i'm not obligated.
as the madness of the christmas season begins, and we frantically count how many days we got left to get how many presents for our loved ones, i'm in a dilemma. how much do i spend on those around who already have a lot, and how little do i spend on those who have nothing? there's something wrong with this world. it's like celebrities getting free stuff all the time. cars, iphones, cosmetics, jewelery, clothes, shoes, bags..... of all the people in the world, they are the ones who can afford to pay for those things! meanwhile, the best we can do for the less fortunate is to give them our used goods.
what's wrong with this picture?
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intake, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly save from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
~ C.S Lewis
The Four Loves
posted by jana* at 11:40 AM
