Stupid Over Love: The Human Condition

If there’s anything that’ll make me sick of Twitter in a hurry, it’s the endless drama regarding relationships and people’s moods. Some days, life’s too short.
That’s not to say that I don’t get it when people need to vent. Oh, do I. I get it.
Last night someone complained on Twitter, “Oh, I hate when I get stupid over a boy.” So I replied, “For thousands of years, all the best dramas have been about two things: Love & War. Do the math. We’re all stupid about it.”
I wonder sometimes how many people realize this. We’re all so self-punitive when wrapped up in turmoils of the heart. We damn ourselves and scowl about being so weak. But, are we?
Wars have been waged over broken hearts. Murders, suicide, alcoholism, it all befalls broken-hearted people. Medical studies have, in the last couple years, finally proven that “broken heart syndrome” exists. Heartbreak can be so severe that it can induce potentially fatal cardiac arrest symptoms. The treatment? Just like that of a heart attack. Rest and doting.
You can argue what it is humans are put on this earth to do. You can propose any number of things. But I’d argue that you’re not human until you’ve had your heart broken. If there’s any one thing that unifies us all, one common experience we all understand no matter what corner of the earth we live in, it’s the broken heart.
From Anthony and Cleopatra to Catherine and Potemkin, from Shakespeare to DH Lawrence, matters of the heart have defined our world and our culture.
The drama of love transforms each of our lives. Is it any wonder, then, that it can also cripple us and turn us into teen-like mockeries of ourselves?
As poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran once wrote, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?”
Stupid over love, indeed. We all are. We have been for thousands of years. You’re as human as the rest of us, and that unrequitted love or broken heart that’s making you just a little worse off as a person this week, well, that’s just your humanity glaring through.

1 thought on “Stupid Over Love: The Human Condition

  1. ThatToyChick

    I totally agree with you. My mom told me constantly that I’d never find “the one” until I had my heart shattered at least twice. I never believed her at 18, but now it’s gospel at 26…getting your heart broken is a rite of passage and, in my opinion, makes you a stronger, better person.
    I agree that sometimes reading through the trials of others can seem like having the same disdained sitcom episode playing over and over in the background, though. 🙂
    ThatToyChick’s last blog post..Vixen Creations – NYC Sex Blogger Raffle Swag and SECRET NEW TOYS!

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