Monday, May 2

Some people say it gets easier as you get older. The deception, the betrayal, the disloyalty – that you learn to expect these things. These people are often called cynics. Slammed with the label ‘pessimist – avoid at all costs’. But I think these so called cynics have the right idea. Human nature cannot be trusted, it’s a proven fact. So why are we so intent on giving people the benefit of the doubt? Why do we put such faith in other people to fulfil this undying need for gratification that we all seem to possess? Life itself is a catch 22. Relationships are our means to a happy and fulfilled life, but they are also our means to a broken life. Aching hearts and hurt feelings wouldn’t exist if we didn’t assume that people could never hurt us. If we didn’t put everyone on such high pedestals, we’d never be let down. In the end, expectations are what make people unhappy. Expectations are what hurt us. Expect nothing, and you will never be disappointed. It’s a simple enough philosophy, but for some reason it’s so hard to put into practice. No matter how tough or strong or durable we may seem, love causes even the most cynical of us to falter; to fall. Love attacks those walls we have built around us, walls that are there to protect us, to shield us from those unreliable humans. It tears them down, destroying them with ruthless and unrelenting force. Without even realizing what’s happened, you're left defenceless; unguarded. And then, when you're at your most vulnerable, that bloody faulty human trait that you forgot about, whilst you were off parading amongst the joy and the magic and the passion that is love, it returns. Like a tidal wave all the hurt, the betrayal, the pain; it consumes you. You’re left with nothing. A desolate, broken creature, with no hope and no strength left. That, my friends, is the brutal reality that we must all come to terms with. A reality that only those of us strong enough to resist the temptations that love offers, will be able to avoid. Oh, to be resilient enough to disregard all the joy and the magic and the passion, for the greater good of remaining untarnished; safe from the forces that threaten our independance and our sovereignity; that jeapordize our very sense of being.