The story by Raymond Carver, was pretty interesting the way it started. About love being violent and selfish in a way. When Terri kept talking about her ex abusing her physically and emotionally demonstrated his love for her is a big lie. How can that by any means define love. That sounds like complete selfishness to me and when someone kills themselves they are being selfish by taking their own life with no regard to others around them being affected. To me that sounds likes someone with complete psychological issues that are deeply rooted in a messed up way of not truly understanding love. People say that you hurt those that you love, but the way her ex husband abused her was way passed love it was more selfishness to fulfill his needs that were not being meant by Terri in some sick and twisted way. It sadness me that she still thinks that he loved her in a way. Maybe to her to think that way gives her peace that he killed himself by coping with his death with an excuse called love. Whatever it was, she was definitely deeply affected more than physically.
As the story progressed the people continued to get more drunk and the subject of love began to twist in different ways. Its interesting when people drink they often do not have a filter and spill whatever they are thinking. What was also something to consider was the authors story of him being a drunk in some way ties to how the story is written.
When Mel talked about how people come and go and yet we still find someone else to love. And even if we loved someone once we find that we hate them later in the future. It really dose have truth to it to a certain degree. Because we as humans find love by feeling with our emotions, and often our emotions are what guide us in our actions and directions. So I can see from that perspective what Mel is trying to come across.
Yet, throughout the reading I could not help but wonder to myself how God would play a role in love. For God is Love, and if God is love then love must be perfect. But we are humans and we fall short of the glory of God, so therefore we fall from that perfect love. Thus, no matter what circumstances we are presented with we must turn to God because in His perfect love he has grace that is sufficient for things we do not deserve and we can learn how to love. For true love is sacrifice, not prideful, or jealous, love dose not envy or boost, dose no evil, but delights in the good. So if we walk in Gods love then thru the Holy Spirit God teaches us what love is, patient, kind. Wow that to me is powerful.
Back to the story, it was interesting about the old couple and how the old man became depressed that he could not 'look' at his wife. It showed, to me, that he did truly cared for her in a way that everything revolved around this women. But i think the fact hat she was alive should have given him hope of seeing her and give him will power to stay strong for her. But who am I to say whether his depression was out of love, or something else. Love is something we humans try to truly understand and grasp what is. We spend most of our lives searching for it because in a way we are searching for God because He is LOVE. Since he created us out of love then somehow we seek it earnestly, for God said it is not good for man to be alone.
"We spend most of our lives searching for it"
ReplyDeleteIndeed, we do. The goal of life, in my view, especially for Christians, is to find love (more fully) and to become love, in a sense.
The tempting thing to do with this story is to say, "Well, they've got it all wrong. They just need God's love." Obviously, they need God's love. Everyone does. But such a conclusion--which isn't what you are doing, I don't think--would miss out on the truth that the story does have. The thing to do is to wrestle with the truth in the story in light of the truth of God's love, I think.
Ya I agree, and you know what is wonderful about it is that love covers a multitude of sins. You don't realize the full value of that until you experience it.
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