"Is it better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all" ?
Ah, my. I’d ramble about taking a quote out of context, but
Ithilwen already dealt with that in “it depends a good deal on what the person saying it is actually trying to say by quoting it.”
Good points also to
Conina for the time-traveler’s dilemma, so to speak, and
stardf29’s excellent post on the difference between “hurt” and “harm.”
Ithilwen wrote:
Or are they just saying that romance is such a wonderful thing, that everyone should experience it whether it leads to tragedy or not? This seems to be the most common usage of the phrase I've seen, and it sounds a bit like idolatry. As if romance is more holy than any other human experience.
Verily. To borrow another phrase from Shakespeare, some “jest at scars who never felt a wound.” It sounds like something that a winner at love would say, which in turn makes the recipient (of the comment) sound like the loser thereof.
I call it Klingon thinking. In the
Star Trek DS9 episode “Blood Oath,” three Klingons are compelled by their honor to pursue an old feud even unto death. Their non-Klingon friend Jadzia agrees to join them, but not to do it their way. ”I think you Klingons embrace death too easily. You treat death like a lover. I think living is a lot more attractive. I think an honorable victory is better than an honorable defeat.” At this point she finds a way to solve their weapons problem, resulting in (from the Klingon point of view) an honorable victory. (They still die, but victoriously.) A lot of people treat “it is better to have loved and lost” like Klingon honor: you must have romantic love even if it’s destructive.
Part of this may come from the attitudes toward marriage versus celibacy. It’s absolutely true that marriage, and later parenthood, will rock your world in ways you cannot believe existed. Very much a case of “whoa, I had no idea it was this intense.” That’s fine as long as it doesn’t drift into snobbery, which alas is not unknown. The single person, or the childless couple, may hear condescending remarks about how they never will be truly grown up until they have a family. I’m not talking about cruelty, which is a separate topic: remarks to a single whose fiancé/e has just died, or a couple whose child was stillborn. No, just daily pat-on-the-head chatter, which is about one-upsmanship.
Because of this perceived difference in status, I sometimes hear single people lament, “I guess I must be called to celibacy,” in much the same mournful tone as “I must be called to dentures,” which, first of all, thanks for the good wishes
; and secondly, they don’t even have them yet!
Not that confirmed celibates are incapable of walking around with their noses in the air. There is a certain attitude in being “married to God” because none of your friends can top it. He’s the greatest, the beloved, crazy about you, loved you enough to die for you, lives in your heart, is faithful and true, and is home every night. As if mortal suitors aren’t nervous enough already without being held up to that standard. On the other hand, He is perfect, which means that if there’s an argument, you are the one in the wrong. Try being “married” to someone that perfect. But there can be pride right there as well, in pity-party martyr points mostly.
I think James Martin’s
Jesuit’s guide to (almost) everything put it more graciously. The confirmed celibate isn’t immune to love, either given or received. But the call is stronger. And it takes a certain type of person to follow that call. The celibate may leave many beloved relatives and friends at a gravesite, but it never will be the same as for the family man or woman. Being celibate, says Martin, means being at peace with the realization that you will never be the most important person in anybody’s life.
If that sounds horrific to you, my guess is that celibacy isn’t your calling. It might be your status until your love comes along, but that doesn’t make the calling bad. Celibacy and marriage are both holy and beautiful callings. My thinking is, do you feel called to be married? Then you are called to be married. The majority of humans are. They are just confusing their calling with their status. That's why they get scared.
It is a good thing in life when a person’s status matches their calling. But people whose calling and status aren’t the same have to deal with attitudes from others as well as fears from inside themselves. Those attitudes make people feel badly about themselves, and that confuses their perceptions. Some of the loneliest people I’ve ever met were married.
As for unrequited love … I can’t make up my mind if it motivates people to improve themselves, if it’s excellent fodder for literature/poetry/the arts, or part of the Fall. Sometimes as with Eowyn/Aragorn, or Tighten/Roxanne Ritchi, it seems like there's nothing you can do about it, and then they take it badly. I don't see it as the sort of thing that would have happened in Eden.
Then again, I've heard theologians say that maybe the Bible doesn't record Adam and Eve being in love because when you're the only people in the world, love doesn't matter. Thoughts?