To Love or Not To Love

Ron Resnick once said, ~Tragedy by far speaks to the human condition more than the other arts, because we recognize the fatality of life from its outset. 'Birth' is tragedy, for birth ends in death. 'Love' is tragedy, for it ends in betrayal or, at best, in faint memories of what was.~ If you think about it, when it comes to our life it can oftentimes feel as if we're the main character living in a tragic Shakespearean play, especially when matters of the heart become involved. Drama such as inner turmoil, betrayal, disappointment, madness, defeat, victory, life, death, etc. are all intertwined in the one thing that is considered a trusted friend and yet at the same time a sworn enemy...love/true love. Whether it's emotional, physical, personal, mental, and/or spiritual there's always conflict within love that will inherently lead to a possible metaphorical death for you, a potential/significant other, or both.

Let me ask you this question, do you personally feel/think your own love life is considered an absolute tragedy? Essentially, love or true love for that matter can most definitely breathe life into your heart giving "birth" to happiness and contentment, but it can also in all intents and purposes cause your very own death by choking the life out of you, so to speak, leaving you covered in sadness and darkness. Its a sad situation indeed when a person looks back at bad past relationships in which one metaphorically experienced a painful death of sorts to the point where one is continually haunted by the acts of betrayal that were perpetrated by him or her. In somewhat the same context as Lady MacBeth, a person can try so hard to wash his/her hands, in a manner of speaking, of all the bad memories of past relationships that stain their mind, but it's still seen causing the gradual loss of their sanity.

Without a doubt, we've all read or at least tried to read Hamlet and it would be safe to say many of you are familiar with the scene where he makes the famous speech about Yorick all-the-while holding his skull. In some aspect, each one of us can be compared to Hamlet as we in a way hold in our hand our heart and reminisce about the person we once were, inevitably seeing the person who laughed and loved life to its fullest. However, that was before love treacherously disturbed the calm peacefulness slowly poisoning one's perception to become tainted after becoming unfortunate fatalities at the hands of once trusted former lovers now sworn enemies ultimately leading to gradually see it now as a bittersweet reality of misery whereby it served your heart a tragic demise met with by the sharp end of a dagger, which can be seen by the countless number of scars left behind.

For the question can be asked, do you consider yourself to be a tormented soul who is always expecting or should I say waiting to be stabbed in the heart by a guy/girl so much so you put yourself in a heightened state of paranoia whereby making the people close to you wary of your erratic, as well as, possibly dangerous behavior? Thinking about it, it's a fate worse than death to put yourself in a King Lear like situation where you would rather hurt those around you instead of experiencing the calming peace of love from someone who can ease the madness that's been torturing you personally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. What it comes down to is having this deluded mindset that every potential and/or significant other is going to betray you, which is foolish thinking. Let me tell you something, you have to let go of that mindset or you're going to end up pushing yourself deeper into an overwhelming sense of darkness/grief causing you to metaphorically and literally die.

In retrospect, there is one quintessential thing that connects every person no matter what their age, race, religion, etc. and that's experiencing the tragedy of utter heartbreak. You can't help but feel for people who have been tragically hurt either personally, physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually because you can truly see yourself as a kindred spirit in/with that person. You see, we're all thespians of the heart and even though we may not be as articulate or able to perform on the spot a dramatic soliloquy we try our best to beautifully reflect our feelings, as well as, emotions that are heartbreaking. In the end, we all come to a point where we come to a crossroads involving a guy/girl and no offense to William Shakespeare as I tweak his words in order to say that when when it comes to matters of the heart we find ourselves asking...~To love or not to love: that is the question.~