Opinion
Love show sparks contemplation
December 6, 2007
An incredibly simple fact astonished me today. After two years together, my boyfriend and I broke up. It’s now December, five months later, and I can’t help but notice the accumulation of blissful couples that happen to be nuzzling each other around every corner. Restaurants, the library, the bank, the grocery store and every other location, for that matter, are flooded with hand-holding, baby-voiced lovers. A notorious cliché hit me this evening while observing a very tall woman and a very short man exchanging, “I love you’s” before departing at a dorm: it takes two to tango.
And, apparently, even awkwardly heightened people can dance. I don’t mean to sound like Carrie in an episode of “Sex and the City,” narrating how dreary it is to be single during the holidays. Yes, I wish I had someone to spend these holidays and beyond with, but I’m more fascinated than lonely. It is remarkable to contemplate how many aspects two people must agree on in order to have both a healthy and exciting relationship. Two individuals must be physically and emotionally attracted to one another. If you take time to think about this on a deep level, the pessimistic thought that healthy relationships are hard to come by is actually more realistic than pessimistic.
Before the actual show was airing, the commercials for “A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila” repulsed me. In fact, all of television’s cheesy dating shows had me wishing I were living in a time before television existed. But, of course, after one episode, I felt obligated to turn MTV on every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. MTV’s summary states, “This self-proclaimed ‘bisexual freak’ has had her heart broken by men and women, and she’s tired of being alone. With our help, she’s inviting 16 luscious lesbians and 16 sexy straight guys over to her place for A Shot of Love With Tila Tequila.”
And while that sounds like anything but educational, it has taught me a few things about love.
I saw myself in some of Tila’s potential suitors, and unfortunately, this wasn’t always pleasant to recognize. I cringed when hearing jealous words come out of some of their mouths, and cringed even harder when jealousy resulted in foolish actions. The most unattractive and unnecessary emotion is jealousy. Suspiciousness that leads to browsing through your partner’s computer documents and hoping desperately that there are no attractive people of the opposite sex at their social gatherings is exhausting and irrational. I suspect that jealousy is easily the leading cause for break-ups in our culture.
I know this is an abstract column, but love is an abstract topic. There are heavenly highs, dreadful lows and monotonous routines between them. And again, I don’t mean to sound like Carrie in an episode of “Sex and the City,” but her statement, “The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.” It’s the truest ending I can offer.
Annee Mayer-Chapleau is a junior studying creative writing. She loves astronomy and her main goal in life is to dance like David Byrne from the Talking Heads.