I just started reading this horribly trashy, romance “novella”
that I purchased for $3 on Amazon. I put novella in quotes because it is
obviously written by an amateur author, self-published, and unedited by anyone,
at all. {The author used “through” instead of “threw”… & part of my soul
died.} Don’t get me wrong, I know my grammar and punctuation skills are atrocious, but
I am also not an aspiring writer. Anyway, the plot is fairly interesting and it
is extremely easy to read {& the first “novella” in the series was free},
so I count it as a win for a summer read. Even though the book itself is, as I
said before, T-R-A-S-H-Y {with a capital T!} something about the romance itself
struck me.
First off, I will go ahead and state that I may have a
warped perception of romantic relationships. My hopeless romanticism coupled
with my high skepticism of true intentions makes for an interesting view on
love. Whether this, I will call it bipolar just for lack of a better term, view
of love is due to my past relationships {good or bad, romantic or not} or what
we are bombarded with in popular media, I am unsure. Men have
morphed into these emotionless, amoeboid creatures that engulf the sentiments of
unsuspecting women, leaving them hollow and pathetic. {DING! DING! DING! Too
much TV!} DISCLAIMER: this is not limited to men in real world terms. I’m sure
many women have been viewed in a similar manor.
Back to the read…
The main character {at least she seems to be the main
character}, a very young girl – 18 or so {which starts a discussion for another
day: the adult subject matter of teen reads… HELLO! Inappropriate!} begins
falling in love with a young man a few years her senior. She is a virgin and
the young man seems to be not-a-virgin… this is where it caught my attention.
The young man cares for this girl a great deal…so much so, that he feels no
need to pressure her into anything. He waits for her to make sure that she is
ready before he asks her to proceed in their relationship, in any facet. It
seems that this, what I will call selfless, behavior is something that we have
lost in the modern world. We {collectively male + female from any culture}
are just downright selfish. We want what we want. We have our dreams and
desires and we don’t want to let anything get in the way. “I don’t want to get
married because that will eat up my fast car fund.” “I want to feel good, their
reservations be damned.” This is what we portray to one another. However, the
young man in this story refuses to give into his feelings, and instead, listens
to the desires and uncertainties of his partner. He cares for her and realizes
that maybe his “needs” aren't the most important factor. It seems like we could
all take a lesson from this, whether it be in love or in friendship {also applies
to spirituality as well}, and realize that our selfish behaviors just flat out get
in the way of some phenomenal relationships. We are missing out!
Now, I take back what I said about men. I know a lot of
outstanding men {& women}. Men {& women} who renew my confidence in
humanity. They make me realize that not all people existing on this earth are
crappy and devoid of character. They show me that it is perfectly normal to ask
for patience, understanding, and some consideration in relationships… in fact,
that I should expect {possibly demand} those things. And those are the very
things that I ask for and the very things that I try, with all my might, to
reciprocate.
Re-evaluate yourself within your relationships. Even though it is exceptionally
easy to get lost in our own egocentricity, take a step back and think “this isn't
all about me…”
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