Friday, December 22, 2017

Licence to Love

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - Dec 2017

One day during a casual walk I noticed an elderly couple coming from opposite direction. The husband was walking ahead in full stride with the wife slowly following him with a half drooping head. This picture reminded me of a common sight from yester years with respect to the bedroom arrangement for a couple. You may have even seen this in some of the movies from the past as well. There will be a bed which is used by the husband whereas the wife either sleeps on a mat on the floor or on another bed placed separately from husband’s bed.

Those were the times when there were clearly marked boundaries for expressing your love towards your sweetheart. Times have changed and life now zips through a fast lane where new trends get set with the blink of an eye. Even in such a jet setting time we still have people around us who believe in limiting the display of love to the person they chose to share their life with!

A lot has to do with how history influences us with respect to how we express our love to dear ones. Before the colonial era people living in the present day India used to have an absolutely free way of disclosing their love. With colonisation quite a few constraints came into place and we being a product of such a constrained society, continue to follow most of these customs even today. Hence many such acts including an innocent kiss or a hug or an embrace is considered as taboo or non-acceptable in most part of Indian society till date.

Being afraid of these social norms, a lot of us restrict ourselves from truly sharing the emotions we carry deep inside, even to the ones with whom we are licenced to love. Ask yourselves these questions. Do I knowingly or unknowingly stop myself from expressing my love to my better half? Do I ever think that I need to express only this much love towards him or her? If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the above questions probably it is time that you start thinking about a change that you need to bring in your life.

We live in 21st century now and who is stopping you from displaying your genuine love towards your loved one? Why do we need to still adhere to the rules from colonial era that stops us from opening up our hearts and let the most significant other in your life know how much you love them?

We all live in a time when we dedicate ourselves more towards the social media that revolves around us than those innocent souls that long for us. We make it a point to post in Facebook about our recently acquired model of phone, but find it odd to acknowledge our love for dear ones on a special day. We shout from our roof tops about the recent movie we’ve watched but find it difficult to even whisper in the ears of our better half how much we love them.

Let us wake up and realize that the world is in need of much more love than what it gets today. The moment you exhibit your love for your dear ones you are sending a positive note especially to the little ones in your family about the need for love and care. This is the only way we empower them and the next generation to realize the value of love to make the world a better place to live. Teach them the need to love and that too unconditionally. Share with them stories of care and compassion so that when they grow up they too will spread the wings of love for those who are in need.

May the social taboos not stop you! May you be able to open up and make yourself believe in the power of love! Realize that through holy matrimony you are even more empowered with a license to love. Let that be the guiding force that motivates you further not to hold back but to embrace the need of this world to experience candid love.

Love as much as you can because you'll never know till when you are given time in this world to love and be loved.

God bless!

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