Monday, September 20, 2010

Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday

Alice Morse Earle once said, "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present." But when starting a relationship, how is one supposed to take it day by day when your actions today can possibly affect tomorrow? The present can be the gift that keeps on giving, but it also has the potential to be Pandora's Box, or that can of worms that explodes in your face weeks, or even worse, months later.

I know thinking about the future can cause all sorts of unecessary stress, but how can one not think about it when the future is inevitable?

A friend of mine said that if somethings meant to happen, it'll happen. But that in certain instances, today is sowing the seed for the future. If that's the case, how would todays seed grow into something beautiful if you don't take the necessary pre-meditated precautions to nurture that concept or idea as the days go by?

We can save up money now to buy a house in a few years. We can study hard for the SATs to get a higher score. We can apply for an internship at Vogue magazine to further our chances of becoming a fashion writer. And we can train every day for the next three months for a triathon. But our hands get slapped with the reality ruler when we ponder if "Mr./Mrs. Right NOW," could be, "Mr./Mrs. RIGHT."

I suppose this makes sense though. Because love, (and even "like") is one of the few things in life that you can't plan - it just HAPPENS. So you try to dismiss the possibility of waiting in vain and let things flow to see where things go. But just can't seem to shake it.

When that's exactly what you should do. Shake it:

"so it's a present. me personally, I shake my presents before I open them. it's a way of knowing what you'll be getting before you get it. it's not a perfect science, but it's pretty much all you can do. point is, you can never really know ... what the things you do today will REALLY mean tomorrow. but you can shake the present (change things up a bit, tweak them, a simple action, without requiring too much thought/stress), and based on how things have turned out when you've shaken things before, you can guess how things will be tomorrow. right or wrong, all it takes is another tweak to make it better the next day."~The homie P. War

1 comment:

Se7en said...

Great piece.

I have been thinking about this a lot as of late (due to new circumstances), and my philosophy is that our past [in love] causes that trepidation, fear, and endless thinking/over-analyzing.

It is like when you are a child... and you do something that you had no idea could hurt you before - such as riding your bike. Until you fall... it is a glorious and wonderful feeling. You never think, "What if I fall and get hurt?" because it has never happened to you before. But once it does... fear sets in and your mind begins to think, "What if I fall and get hurt again the next time I hop back on that bike?"

It reminds me of the R. Kelly song, "One Man" - only it works both ways (males and females). If we were never hurt by love... we would do as we did in the beginning and love without fear because we had never experienced it before. You did not fear hurt because you had never been hurt.

Hurt... a broken heart... is the root. If you or I get into a car accident, you or I may be shaken for a bit... you or I may be more cautious (which is actually for our own good)... but eventually... eventually you and I will no longer feel that fear.

In love (and consequently even like)...

Fear, after a broken heart, shall likely, forever remain.