Inspirations can often come from the most unlikely of sources and at the most unexpected moments. It is not only the classic works of art or literature that inspires people to high deeds and lofty ideals. Even ordinary pop music, the objects of scorn and ridicule in intellectual circles, can move people to somber realizations and bring about profound changes.
For a professional cynic and an inborn miserablist like me, nothing about the good things in life seemed genuine to me. Everything was fake and happiness was only an illusion; nobody is honest and all actions was driven by selfish reasons and motives. No wonder, with such a bleak outlook of life and a scornful attitude towards people, all of my relationships were miserable and wretched affairs. I never could trust anybody, forget about love and care, and this only resulted in a string of failures, one right after the other.
I imagine those days now, how lonely and lost I felt and yet not knowing the reasons why. I thought I knew how to love but still expected others to give in return. Only when they do not do so and I didn’t receive what my heart desires, things will end right at the moment. Empathy was always an alien concept and never was I caring or understanding of the other. Everything revolved around me and my world was the center of the universe, and it was a forlorn, bitter and lonely planet.
That’s when the radio played and a melody came to my rescue. It wasn’t like any dramatic scene from the movies, there was not a herald from the cosmos, but it reached me in the form of softly sung verses and seeped into my parched brains.
Love is a rose but you better not pick it. It only grows when it’s on the vine. A handful of thorns and you’ll know you’ve missed it. You lose your love when you say the word “mine.”– Neil Young
I slowly came to the realization that love was something to be shared and to keep it, it must also be given and never claimed for mine alone.
No one discovers love in solitude, by turning inward on himself and by focusing only on one’s self. It is only by giving one’s love away that one finds true love. And the love that we give is not dependent on anything or anyone else but ourselves. If we are sincere and true, it doesn’t matter whether it’s reciprocated or acknowledged. True love is incorruptible by any outside element and remains smudge free just like any noble metal. Like the sun and stars which never shies their light away from anything and always give them for free, love is also that source of light that keeps shining for everyone and on everything. And the love which we freely share and give away will remain with us until the end. We stay forever happy with the love there is and that we can give for always.
