Morning Debriefing

If Sally proclaimed her love to Billy because she simply wanted him due to an emotional angst, would that justify love? Then what if Sally, without any amity nor affection, claimed that she loved Billy because she needed him by her side? Perhaps, too utilitarian but would you say that is love? In a different scenario, what if Sally had felt equivocal of her feelings toward Billy and plunged into a forceful declaration of love to find how she really felt? Would that be any more real? How about if Sally knew and understood that Billy would not and never could take Sally essential to his life, but confessed her love anyway? A willful act of enslavement. Would that be a fool's love, an act of bravado, or no love at all? Varyingly, what if Sally were a necessity but unwanted by Billy yet she would choose to love Billy? Or, what if Sally had neither adoration nor need for Billy but had chosen to honor the tradition to devote herself to Billy anyhow? Is there any love found in honor or vice versa?

I wouldn't know. For all I know, people have decried their love for far less reasons than these. Plus, who the hell is Sally?

I remember someone asking me one of those broad, philosophical life questions. Do you tend to choose and love a person because you wanted to be like him or because you needed him for all that you could not be? Because, they say couples grow up alike but they also say opposites attract. To be fair, there's a saying that contrasts for just about any other sayings. But it's still interesting to ponder. And I think sometime later, maybe months, I thought the answer must be both. I can't say much why, but I figured love, if it could be dissected, is made up by 3 parts. They're desire, need, and choice. A person must want another person, or an alibi for affection; a person must have a need for that person, and thus depend on him or her; and, a choice needs to be made to love him and for him, her. The reasons for someone's desire and needs largely vary from one individual to another, and the proportion of those desire and needs are likely to vary as well. Some are more independent than others, some feel less than others and are seemingly less affectionate, and so on. And choice, that choosing to fully accept and love, is important. The choice part is the most personal part of it all, and perhaps the most mysterious as well. I think, to some extent you can rationalize love; you feel more confident and like yourself around him, she seems to always know exactly what you need to hear, he's irreplaceable, and so on. Explain it the best you can and it ought to make some sense, but it should never be complete because it wasn't meant to be expounded. But these aren't anything new, I suppose.

I'll finish my anecdotes here. And about the photo. It's actually one of my favorite shots, of an island near Naoshima, Japan. I've often heard that silence is a sound you can hear. I understood what that meant but I've never felt it. That is, the disparity between knowing the path and walking the path. This photo was that moment. Put in words, the aesthetics of information found in lack of information. A message clarified through ambiguity.

Question to self: Why are you writing this 7 in the morning?!