Pages From John

Tag: love

  • A Matter of Life or Death

    To be truly and fully alive is to be responsible.
    To be responsible is to be able to give a response.

    That is what separates a living thing from a dead thing.

    If we give our responses based on how our friends perceive us,
    If we give our responses based on how morally acceptable it appears,
    If we give our responses based on how our government will punish us,
    If we give our responses based on how our priest will reprimand us,
    If we give our responses based on the rewards that are set up in front of us,
    If we give our responses based on a system constructed around us,
    If we give our responses that are contrary to our personal truth,

    Are we actually responding?

    or are we following a response handed to us?

    A response commanded to us!

    We were given life! LIFE!
    And yet we have chosen death.

    A comfortable, easy, thoughtless death.

    Come alive! Come alive! Come alive!

    Take the controls of life!
    Stop being so damn fake.
    Have we ever been real?
    Our life is running out…
    But are we even alive yet?
    Or are we pretending to be a dead thing?

    Are we responding?

    Do we love ourselves enough to be ourselves?
    Or will we continually choose hate and repression?
    Are we going to be grateful for being alive?
    Or are we going to be ungrateful and give up what makes us alive?

    We all must choose.

    It is a matter of love or fear.
    It is a matter of life or death.

    To be or not to be…
    That is the question.

  • Questions of Love

    Would I be so demanding of someone I loved?

    Would I crack the whip and demand “perfection” everyday?

    Would I use tricks to manipulate them to behave the way I wanted?

    Would I tell them they can be happy only when they achieve their goals?

    Would I scold them for their emotions and tell them to shove them away?

    Would I call their interests and curiosities silly and tell them to focus?

    Would I question their trustworthiness and values?

    Would I make rules upon rules and put them into a box with little space?

    Would I organize all of their actions into “good” or “bad”?

    Would I tell them they are a specific way and can not be anything else?

    Would I advise them to give in to their fears and not be courageous?

    Would I make them live boring day after boring day?

    Would I tell them that there is no hope for them?

    Would I ignore their wants and desires?

    Would I make them value themselves based on what others say?

    Would I constantly compare them to others?

    Would I want them to put on a fake smile?

    Would I ask them to put on a facade?

    Are any of these things what I would do to someone I love?

    Do I do these things to myself?

    Do I love myself?

    Do you love yourself?

    These are the questions of love.

    If you love yourself, set yourself free.

    Let the sunrise!

  • A Cup of Tea with Love

    As I fall in love with Love, Love sits me down for a chat with a cup of tea.

    “So you are in love with me?” Love asks.

    “Falling in love…” I correct Love.

    “And how far will you go?” Love asks.

    “I think I want to love you entirely,” I look into Love’s twisted eyes.

    “Are you ready for that?” Love asks.

    “I think so,” I say with pride.

    “You see… You don’t yet understand what that really means. You have some strength but you are still very weak,” Love sips on some tea.

    “What do you mean?”

    “You love the sunshine. You love the beautiful songs. You love your wonderful family. You love dogs that lick your face. You love the opportunities you have been given. You love your ability to see, hear, feel, and speak. You love your breathing lungs. You love your pain and what it has taught you. You love the books you have read. You love the hope that fills your heart. And you love the people that come as heroes when disaster strikes,” Love smiles. “And that is why I love you too! But haven’t you been told that I am so much more than that? You love me for my sunshine and rainbows, but what about my rain?”

    “I have told you that I love my pain and what it has taught me so of course I love your rain!” I protest.

    “But are you ready to understand that Love is everything? There is nothing else…”

    “Oh.”

    “This is my song,” Love says.

    “How is it that I am always wrong?” I ask.

    “Does that bother you?” Love asks.

    “Yes and no,” I chuckle.

    “You know I am always right?”

    “Yes,” I say.

    “Even when I am wrong?” Love asks.

    “Your wrongness only creates a brighter rightness,” I say.

    “Love,” Love says.

    “Love,” I say.

    “So you are in love with me!” Love winks and sticks out her tongue.

    We silently finish our tea. It warms the inside.