Kids today should be being brainwashed by the classics! I know it was the love of Winne and Kevin, Zach and Kelly, and Corey and Topanga that messed with my head when I was 12. Thank god none of those kids ran with a gang of jorts wearers.
no jorts, here, kids!
I know I should just accept the degregation of the standards of our American youth, but damnit! Someone should stand up and cheer for the idea of love that does not include eternal devotion, stalking, and 107 year old virgins.
hey, don't look so pissed.
Maybe, just maybe, the eternal devotion thing is not so bad, but let's be real kids: no one is going to love you like that. The good news: I think actual love, real, gross, annoying, and dangerously volitile love might just be a little better.
In the Twilight series, Ms. Meyers depicts a sick puppy kind of love: its sticky sweet, and all tangled up in the popular notion of the soul mate, the fated love that ends all other loves. Its not that I don't believe that there are very particular people in the world that are meant for one another. Sure. I beleive that. But I am not wed to the idea of the one true soul mate. And I do not believe in fate--there are limited possibilites out there, but we make our own choices and the choices make our fate.
yeah, that's right Preston. it wasn't fate.
For real kids, love is not a magical fairy ship that shows up one day and flies you away to the adult world of awesome (ice cream for breakfast and 90s alternative rock piped into every room!). Being in love does not equate the finding or fulfillment of yourself. Do not believe that it does. It makes it easier to be you, I suppose, but it does not make you. If you're 17, you're still turning into a person...love won't finish the job for you. And, forrealz y'all, you don't have to take it from me, ask your mom. If she's Team Edward, god help you and your dad.
I'd say the best analogy for love is that its like a punch in the stomach that you really really want. It knocks the wind right out of you, yes, but you want it to. And while you're flailing around on the ground, trying to regain your dignity, it will either kick you or set you on your feet. I guess maybe that part is fate, because no one chooses who they love. Either way, you end up ok. If it picks you up, hot dog! You found the needle in the haystack...at least for now.
And if it kicks you, it probably didn't mean to. Love doesn't mean to hurt, so don't get mad or bitter about it. That will get you nowhere. Legit, if he (she) doesn't love you, you'll survive. And while it feels like death, it makes you into who you are. Clearly Ms. Meyers is a fan of the freakout and kill yourself method of dealing with a broken heart. I do not recomend that as your top option. I'd go with sad music and ice cream. And a plan for future romance with smarter, sweeter, handsome-er men. Really, its not as easy as that, but what can you say? You get over when you get over it.
For some people, love will last forever. Those are lucky people...strong willed and loyal people. For others, love will peter out (especially if you're, um, 17!). I don't really think it ever compleatly ends if it was actual, real, knock your guts out love, but it certainly loses relevance in one's life. Its there,yeah, but its burried back there with your Britney lyrics and that weird dream you had when you were 12, where you were a pilot on the Millenium Falcon. Its like the dollar you left in your coat pocket last winter, and found this fall. Its good to remember but its not going to make or break your life.
Anyway, moral of the story: love will kick your ass, but it will also make you into a better person. It won't always love you back, it most certainly will hurt you, it won't always last into eternity, and let's hope to god it doesn't involve excessive virginity (107 years, people!), but its worlds and worlds better than the cheesed up sludge from the movies.
This may have made my cry. Not that I've seen/read Twilight on purpose.
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