Of Love, of Needs, and of What is beautiful...

Reading Cyril Wong's short stories collection, "Ten Things My Father Never Taught Me And Other Stories". Riveting. And perhaps, one only for the lonely soul. With residues of a not-so-quiet mediation with his past, his father, etc. There is no resolution, of course, contrary to the author's belief. The past serves as part of what we are presently; and naturally we are constantly reminded of that every single day of our lives, most of the time unconsciously, I realised.

Presently now reading the last second story in the collection, “The Vomiting Incident”, and was prompted to write this. One of the certainty in life that the protagonist un-learned was, I quote, “That marriage had to be founded on love.” There perhaps lies the incurable romantics in us all. It began with the “happy ever all” symptom you inherit from fairy-tales. In this short life, there are so many things we want, or in other words, desires we want to fulfill. So much so that love (one of many desires) takes a back seat. So much so that love becomes as insignificant (close to null?) as it can get in a marriage, considering other needs, like companionship, financial security, etc. Of course, this is just an erudite guess - none from personal experience, apart from what I observed between my own parents.

Then again, I may be missing the point. An air ball, in basketball term. For at least at one point in his life, the author believed in love in marriage. And I believe, at another different time somewhere in the future, he may look back at his childhood and suddenly remember one precious day, in their own little way, in a short-lived, private moment, one tiny glimpse of tenderness exchanged between the parents.      

==

Our Story

Everything is much more reasonable

because beauty cannot last
and is vulnerable.

Or what cannot last and is vulnerable

is beautiful.

And this is our story.