Modern Love

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On Valentine’s, a colleague of ours received a bouquet…

A “Westerner” who was visiting our office, exclaimed :

- you still do that here ?

Now I am not a big fan of red roses in cellophane but I had to ask, so I did :

-why have you stopped ?

-Well, because the possible rejection would be too much !

And it just dawned on me!

It is not fear of  « ringardise » that put men off offering roses, not a holy war against consumerism, not cynicism and a particular philosophy of life, but merely: lack of courage. 

The ultimate fear of reJection.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but it seems the modern man lacks courage.

I have been told recently that there are no real men anymore. please rest assured, it was a Man who shared this observation.  I confess as to having some difficulties distinguishing real men from fake ones, but I do agree with one assessment, our sense of reality is becoming more and more … virtual.

 So, back to the topic at hand… courage, love, flowers and modernity.

When did rejection, a simple lack of reaction to a bouquet… become too much for a man to handle?

I used to read Qays ibn al-Moullawwah while growing up and I knew since then that I would never settle for less then a majnoun… but then why would any sane woman? And the answer is obvious: her lack of courage.

We have become, these auto proclaimed vulnerable creatures, afraid of everything and most of all of ourselves.

Loneliness has become the ultimate enemy, being unknown a synonym to perdition, having a 5 year plan is a must. Otherwise … bonjour le loser…ou loseuse (no comment aux frenchies)

We have crafted and honed games and rules to regulate our every relation, so as to Not get hurt…now there are pills meant to make us feel nothing, potions to keep the hurt at bay while we walk steadily and without doubt our 5 year strategic path… in the name of “achieving”… what we cowardly accepted as our goals.

We put our faith, in rigid codes, and convinced ourselves, that we only have to obey...because imagine, just imagine, if our faith required that we think… la cata!

We would be all infidels … and there is no greater sin ( dear lovers)

We have expiry dates for everything, food ( on the box), Love ( 3 years), eggs ( 40) but are too blind to our own… too scared.

We all know that change is above all, the courage to chose otherwise, to say no,  … but what we forget is that before they sell us weapons in the name of a courageous death, we need to learn how to carry flowers in the name of a Life worth living... in the name of Love

DS