And comes the day of the year, when everybody gets crazy about romance. Is love overvalued? I don’t think so, but now the fanfare of the media is going to be so loud, that it can make us doubt.
“Every man should plant a tree, have a child and write a book. These all live on after us, insuring a measure of immortality.”
Quote from the Talmud.
This would be an old fashioned look at things. I prefer to look at it in a different way: Every man ( and woman) should do their utmost to develop fully their human potential, and should spend it for the benefit of other people, thus transcending their own lives. Love is the ideal means conducive to both processes, and the best part of it, is that when you love, you don’t need to ask for directions.
Modern psychology is also discovering, that relationships and even single acts, in which you give to others, are the most potent way in which to increase your happiness. When struck by romantic love, we are full of contradictory impulses, like the wish to give everything, but also to have a total exclusivity. As you cool down with time, what emerges, is that if your emotional mind set is able to function primarily on basis of voluntary exchange of kindness and love, it makes long term relationships easier.
What everybody knows, is that no matter how messy love is, while it grabs you by the throat, you don’t want it to stop, almost hoping, it will never let you go.