Wednesday 23 November 2011

Does Love Complete?


I love you. You complete me. –Jerry Maguire

That’s probably the most famous line in the movie (besides Renee Zellweger’s response). Many people know this line without having even heard of the movie, maybe because it’s so cheesy or its repetition throughout pop culture. If kids today know this line because of The Dark Knight, which came out twelve years after Jerry Maguire, this would be pretty awesome (though the context in the situations is completely different so interpretation may be odd). However, though it may be a cliché, I think that it’s probably one of the few clichés or platitudes about love that is actually right or true.


Is it a universal truth though? I am probably not the person to ask when it comes to this, since there are accounts of people happily living alone and single with no worries or need to fill up a void. What I do know is that there are many people who don’t see it that way, including yours truly. Now, if I had to choose one reason why that would apply to me, I guess it would be loneliness. I’ve always thought that loneliness was the flip-side of love, rather than hate. I see love as collaboration, and that doesn’t really happen when you’re alone. I’m not saying that loneliness gets cured once you find yourself a girlfriend or boyfriend, if that was the case then things would be a little easier.


Instead of the shift from “single” to “taken,” it’s more of a realization that you are moving from a person alone in the world, out on your own, to someone who’s capable of being loved. And I’m not saying this is about becoming a better person. No. This is about knowing that you exist in a space where someone could love you no matter what you did, that you can exist in a space where forgiveness is always possible with enough time and healing.



I’d like that love to be possible, it’s just hard to trust that space because who actually does love unconditionally and accept you for who you are? For me, in my past relationships (and friendships), I doubted the validity and consistency of things like that, waiting for things to fall apart.


Here’s the thing, I don’t know whether or not love completes. There’s no way to be absolutely certain that it could, since it may or may not be true. But if it’s a lie, it’s the most beautiful lie we have. That’s probably why I still believe that love can complete, maybe because I want to believe it.