We’ve been talking about love.
Though its been experienced than talked about, we have come up with definition
of love to one’s encounter of it. Love comes in different forms, in different faces and in different ways. It
is not merely an emotion. All these years since the evolution of the world, we
have given love a different meanings. Robert
Sternberg has even come up with his eight kinds of love. But what then
does love truly mean?
During weekends, I used to go
home to the province where I am staying here in Luzon. I never failed to notice
this one man in our waiting shed. One time, on my way back to Baguio, I saw
this same man the again with all the dirt in his body and soiled clothes. He
doesn’t seem harmful. He’s just there as if waiting for someone. He often looks
at his watch though he doesn’t have one. I could trace the sorrow amidst his
greasy face. I also could tell the anticipation for that something beyond those
looks.
In my curiosity, I began to ask
him his name, where is he from and how old is he. I also get to know his family
and I found out he is not crazy at all as most would easily judge him to be. He
told me he is waiting for his girlfriend. He decided to run away from home with
her because his parent is not in favor of the relationship. They agreed to meet
that night set at exactly 12 midnight. It was already dawn but his girlfriend
has not yet arrive. People started to come for early trips but she hadn’t shown up.
He overheard them talking a young girl who met an accident that night
around 12 midnight. A witness had said the girl carries a bag with her and in a
hurry failing to notice the fast approaching car. He doesn’t believe what he
just heard, his hours of waiting had turned to days, days become weeks, weeks
to months and months to years. He
patiently waits for the arrival of his beloved that long. Long enough that
endures the anxiety of her coming.
I had asked my auntie about how
true was the story related to me by the “taong grasa”. She told me that it had
been five years since that event took place. It had become the talk of the town
since then. He was the center of mockery. His family renounced him. He had
turned into what he is now simply to keep his promise to his beloved.
At first we could indeed say this
man had grown mad out of love. He is out of his mind for the fact that he
insisted on his belief that his girlfriend is coming. He might be so blinded by
love making him cling on it falsely. His love was merely madness. He was unable
to rise in that love.
But if we look beyond what he
did, we could see the genuineness of love. To transcend that very sight of the
“taong grasa”, man is once again reminded of the power of love. Love that is
not merely based on emotion alone. A love so true that it is strong enough to
endure the pain and more willing to go through its tests. He was indeed
standing in love proving to everyone how true and genuine was it.
The presence of this “taong
grasa” would always be there to remind me of what love can do for the sake of
its beloved. It was indeed love that transcends the conventions and conditions
set by our historicity. It is love that went through fire to be purified. A
journey most of us would not dare to go through. It is never easy to be in
love. As long as grow and able to actualize our potentialities and realize our
very own subjectivity in it, dare to go through it.
We may fail along the way, what
matters most is that we had tried. For better are those who tried but failed
than those who have never tried.
