On Love

I spend a lot of time discussing how modern America has proved itself thoroughly unworthy of the independence and liberty the Founders gave it.  Sadly, modern America also has proved itself unworthy of something even more fundamental and eternal, love.

What is love?  Surely it has many features, but in essence it is to care for another at least as much as you care for yourself, if not more.  A person who loves finds a unique soul and makes a conscious decision to cherish it.  A person who loves would no sooner entertain the notion of hurting that soul than hurting himself. It often is difficult to maintain such devotion, but the voluntary and purposeful act of doing so constitutes real love and provides an incredible sense of fulfillment.  To love is indeed to sacrifice.

Contrast this with the modern American view of love, which like so many other things is from the standpoint of a consumer.  Love through this warped prism is selfish, an internal feeling or "high" that your partner must give you or be discarded like an old CD.  As creatures bred to gorge on as much sensation and entertainment as possible, modern Americans are numb to the concept of devotion or sacrifice, whose rewards are far greater but also not immediate.  Asking a modern American to love is similar to asking an illiterate to read and appreciate Shakespeare.  The modern prefers to sit back and allow a film such as Transformers (or its human equivalent) to stimulate his reflexive, reptilian brain rather than explore the godlike majesty that resides in the frontal lobe of conscious choice.

What makes the present situation particularly sad is that Americans still use the language and rituals of love despite having lost all entitlement to do so.  A modern wedding featuring vows of lifelong care and fidelity is not only farce, but desecration for the vast majority of those who partake in it.  If the vows were changed to include "as long as I feel the way I do now," the ritual would be degraded but at least honest.