Love

This is a painting Tim's mother gave to me. It's nothing special, but to me it meant the world; not because I really wanted to be the proud, new owner of this 10 pound art piece. Quite the contrary, I would have been fine without it. But this painting signifies (at least to me) that I am more or less being accepted into their family.

Granted when she gave me the painting she had no idea that Tim and I had only been together a little under a month, but she still saw how much we cared for each other and found an opportunity to show she accepted me.

Side bar:
I normally like to take a very objective view of the world around me. I try to stand outside myself and see how the events that happen to me speak to the human condition. This little event had me awestruck.

Not because I thought nothing like this could ever occur, or because I didn't know what it meant about Terry and her personality; but because I did not think the chances of this event occurring were high enough to produce said event.

Love is a wondrous thing that I am still becoming acquainted with. Don't get me wrong, I believe in it and at one point I thought I had experienced it, but as it turns out, I was completely wrong. Terry loves her son. She may not agree with everything he does, but none the less, she supports him in all that he tries to do. Terry's son loves me and I him. Therefore, by the transitive property, Terry must love me too.

We do interesting and unexpected things while we're in love. We become selfless and selfish all at the same time. We give away paintings, but bicker about the lack of importance the other person seems to place on us. We cry over the fact that we are not appreciated for all the little things that we do, yet we still continue to do them. Does this stem ulterior motives? Could we say that in love, just as in life, we are completely selfish? We look to our partner for his/her approval on all that we do for them. Could this mean just like in charity that we are doing these things for them because we want that approval to satisfy our own desperate need for it?

I don't want the answer to be yes by the way. I'd love for it to be no. That's where you, my readers, come in. Start doing things for other people if you don't already. Don't wait for their approval. Do things without giving away that it's you who are doing it. I'm not just talking about in your love life either. Take this lesson and apply it to every part of your life. Do things that won't necessarily help you. Pick up trash on the sidewalk that's not yours. Change the toilet paper roll in the stall you just used.

Could you imagine if just 50 people in your town started acting selflessly? Now imagine that number growing to 100 or even 200. Imagine the difference we could see. As one person you may think you aren't that special and that you can't make a difference; but once you start, someone else will too. Be the leader; put yourself aside.

Quote:
"Be the change you want to see in the world."