Oh What Fools WE Mortals Be

This is a blog about Love. No not mushy Love, or ‘The Notebook’ Love…in actuality it would be more accurate to say that this is a blog on peoples’ perceptions of love. I’m sure you’re thinking this blog has something to do with my recent relationship trouble, or was inspired by my new venture into the dating world but you would be wrong. The thing that triggered this blog, and this whole thought process, was Facebook. Yes, it’s true, in perusing people’s profiles and statuses I came to realize that many people have at some point asserted a similar idea: “I don’t believe in Love”. And the more I thought about it I realized ‘how many times had I heard someone young say that?’. Yes, I myself am guilty too. I once told my best friend should a certain event ever occur I didn’t know if I could believe in Love. So yes, I made the same party foul, so to speak, many of you have made and I am now here to dispel that silly attitude. I think many of us are driven to that phrase because we want to be cynics. Whether it’s to protect ourselves because we are afraid of being vulnerable, to hide the fact that we are very capable of caring a great deal, or simply because we have a fascination with that romanticized Byronic hero, something about cynicism draws us in. Some people may find that phrase to be the cure for their broken heart, and some adults may tell you it’s not that it doesn’t exist, ‘you’re just to young to know what it really is yet’. I have a response to all.

            I feel sorry for Love because it gets stereotyped more than anything or anyone I have seen. Why is it that the connotation we cannot seem to get past is that Love=Lust? That it is that burning passion for the one you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with, that can’t be without you need? What we forget is that Love comes in many forms. True that is a form, that Love that only a man and a woman can understand, that take your breath away. But PEOPLE, that’s not the ONLY kind! If you haven’t found that type of Love yet, don’t worry, you have time, you’re young you don’t need it right now. Don’t give the rest of Love the shaft because if you do, not only are you not being fair to yourself, but how inconsiderate to the people in your life. We forget that there is familial love: the way we feel for our parents, the way you feel when your baby sister looks up at you for the first time and smiles. Of the love between friends: that lost track of time talking in the coffee shop, that you can call me at 4 in the morning and cry your eyes out, or the way your dog runs up to you the first time you come home from college. Or the love you unknowingly spread when you donate that twenty dollar bill to the Salvation Army at Christmas time. What makes us so misguided to think that there is only one kind of Love? We are not too young to know Love, just because our heart is broken does not mean we did not ever have that type of Love, or can never have it again, and no matter how “cynical” we are we cannot run from the Love of our families and friends.

            For example, my Father once told my brother, sisters, and I that if our house ever caught on fire he wanted us to get out immediately, even if one of us was trapped, the others had to get out. His reasoning is he would rather lose one of us than all of us. It’s a very logical approach, but I should have insisted that we ask the same of him, because I think my Dad always knew deep down inside that he was asking the impossible, and he himself could never abide by that rule. It caused me to have a reoccurring nightmare in which I woke up in the middle of the night to my house burning down, I start to run down the stairs after my family who is safely outside, but hear my baby sister screaming, still trapped in her room. I turn back immediately and rush straight into her room, pull her out of her bunk bed as the ceiling is starting to cave. And it ends. Always there, I wake up and can only assume we made it out. The point of that startling dream that haunted me until I was about 16 is that I could never turn my back on a sibling, or in the macrocosm: anyone I loved, it is unthinkable. I would rather die with them than abandon them. And I think as you sit here reading this you know in your heart you would do the same. So if you “don’t believe Love exists”…what is that?

            I was in a play my second semester of college called ‘Anna in the Tropics’ and in this play there is a quote from Tolstoy that I think more people need to take to heart. It goes: "If there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts." Think of all the billions of people there are in the world, think of all the different types of love that could be shared with them. Don’t sell yourself short and don’t disrespect them, you are young, there are so many types of Love to be had. Some day you’ll have that one heart two bodies kind of Love, but until then, calm down. So if you’re still playing that violin, and trying to keep up the façade of the Cynic, gotcha! I see right through you. And if your still insistent…go tell your little sister*….

*or equivalentJ

An Insightful Vacation

So, yea it’s been a while since I blogged, don’t judge me…I blame summer ha ha. Any way, I recently went on a vacation with my family to North Carolina. Let me just say if you haven’t been to North Carolina period then you NEED to check it out, but more specifically the Outer Banks. I was staying in Nags Head which is right next to Kitty Hawk (Orville and Wilbur Wright anyone? First flight?). It was this beautiful three story beach house with my Dad’s entire side of the family in it. It was great to see everyone, considering I see that part of my family maybe once every two years around Christmas, and  I missed Christmas this year…for certain reasons which we will not mention ha ha. Any way, the location was beautiful, my family was there, we were at the beach...it was great. I’m including some of the pictures in this blog. Among some of the many festivities of the week, we got to celebrate my cousin’s 21^st birthday, see a play on the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and perhaps my favorite, throw a murder mystery party.                          In my adventures with my huge Italian family on North Carolina I learned a few lessons which I would like to share with you. Some of them are funny, some of them you think would be common sense (but certain people missed out on that boat *cough* cough*), and some you just have to wonder about. Either way, here they are, some I learned personally, some are for others:                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

• Don’t cast a 13 year old as a Saloon Girl/ “Dancer”…she knows that means slut
• Mom’s family is better than Dad’s family at catch phrase…that is to say: Dad’s family drinks more (ha ha)
• My sister can always make friends on a vacation…especially if those friends are guys and she says “I just don’t see the point of wearing a swimsuit right now”.
• My brother only gives compliments if his murder mystery paper tells him to.
• There is an “s” in island…no they didn’t misspell it dear (aren’t you 20?!)
• While catch phrase and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are very similar (both done in circles, both have introductions)..the tell-tale difference is that there’s alcohol at one, not the other.
• My Italian family loves ‘The Godfather’ as much as me! Who’d have thought?!
• You DON’T fill a wine glass to the top…you are the reason they raised the drinking age…
• In a Murder Mystery Party it is impossible to keep a straight face when delivering the sexual innuendo you’re supposed to if the person you have to deliver it to is your cousin.
• If you’re in charge of cleaning services at a hotel…you are not the most achieved of your cousins in the job field.
• You shouldn’t talk about your cousin’s wedding when he hasn’t popped the question yet ha ha.
• It is unacceptable in my family to be career driven, but without a boyfriend…and it sucks to be the person taking the heat for it.
• No one wants a 10 minute photo presentation on myspace about your drunkenness…no one cares (not even my 13 year old sister).

 

Just a few things to keep in mind or pass along to others on your next family vacationJ

Something Personal, Something Global

Okay, so first legit blog entry ha ha. It’s going to be kind of random, just some commentary on personal and global events of the past few days. First off I saw the midnight showing of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen last night! It was really good, I thought it was an excellent sequel. Granted, it’s obviously not supposed to be a deep, plot-driven film….but when you accept that and appreciate it for the summer blockbuster that it is, I feel most people will be more than satisfied. Needless to say I didn’t get to bed until 3:30 this morning, so I was not too pleased to have to get up at 7:00 a.m. and go to work:/ I definitely hit up a Doubleshot! I don’t think my night tonight will consist of much ha ha, just reading and catching up on all my missed sleep!

On to slightly more important issues…Iran. I just want to comment on the turmoil going on overseas. My heart grieves for the people over there, especially the martyrs like Neda. It infuriates me to watch the injustice, to see people stripped of their personal freedoms: like free speech, right to assembly, or simply mourning the death of a loved one. The images coming from that country are heart wrenching, and let’s face it…who doesn’t want to punch the “Re-elected” President and the Ayatollah in the face? That being said, I think Washington is making a wise decision right now to not intervene. There are several reasons behind this thought: first, as difficult as it is to admit, this is a part of democracy. People protest when there is an injustice, they clash with the government, and though the struggle may be long and unfortunately brutal, in the end that is how governments are reformed by the people. Our nation has a severely violent history of this same cycle. Our military used to release vicious dogs on crowds or spray them with fire hoses during civil rights movements. Think of Vietnam and the violence in our nation…I feel like I don’t need to go into detail about those riots. Point being, we have a track record of more riots and equal violence, but in the end we have gotten change. Bills were passed, wars were ended; yes lives were lost but sadly that is inevitable when it comes to human interaction. So we need to stay out, let this country do this on its own, not descend like superior parents intervening in their children’s fight…that would be hypocritical. Secondly, if we intervene we will not only increase Middle Eastern tensions but also no one will respect the change that has taken place and it will mean so much less than if the people were to succeed on there own. Just as you cannot make a friend in a bad relationship get out, you have to let them get out when they are ready, on their own. Otherwise they can collapse back into the familiar. We have to let the people do this on their own, so that they’re own country will know, the world will know, and they will know that this is the voice of the people this is what they want and it will stand because they fought for it. Lastly, from a simple feasibility perspective, we already inhabit two countries locked in a deadly war on terror. I don’t know that it would be wise to spread ourselves even thinner, especially with North Korea’s recent belligerence and the fact that right now a mere 500 kilometers separates their bomb and our shores. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no isolationist, and I am all about defending democracy…but right now democracy in Iran has a defender, and that is the people. I think we are in the right position as of now, we are closely observing and voicing our support for the people. It is pressure from the rest of the world that will make a bigger impact right now, the actions of the Iranians speaks louder than ours ever would on their behalf. Given the circumstances I think we should stay put. I still pray for the people, and I hope they do not lose faith, their resistance will prove fruitful in the end, though we can not be disillusioned by hopes for a quick fix. But their endurance and perseverance will raise them above the corruption, and assure that the deaths of the innocents like Neda will have not been in vain.

 

- Lindsey

 

The First One!

Hey there!

Ok so I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but in an attempt to remain on top of technology, and simply out of the desire to share my thoughts with others, I have started one:) So don't judge this blog right away because this post isn't going to be anything special ha ha. Just a quick hello to officially kick off my days of blogging! I guess thats all for now, it's a Saturday afternoon in the middle of summer and i have some plans and some people to see:)

btw...I recommend going to see "The Proposal", it's a great movie!

-Lindsey