The Greatest Journey… really? February 9, 2008
Posted by adelle387 in Back in the U.S.A..trackback
New York Times online: according to an ad for luxury Louis Vuitton, “Love is the greatest journey.”
Love is in the air – and on the air – as Valentine’s Day approaches. Last night at a noisy bar I had a lengthy heart-to-heart with a friend about love (following on the heels of last weekend’s heart-to-heart at a different bar). He believes that people should make sacrifices and take chances for love – which is nothing I haven’t heard before, but still I found it refreshing to hear him say it. I had to wonder, who among my friends has taken or will take a chance for love? My peer group is made up of independent, intelligent, world-traveling women. Some of us would gladly take the label of feminist, but regardless of labels, who among us would fight for a relationship? Who among us would willingly alter the course of our lives for another person? It’s not a question of being comfortable taking chances… but which chances we’ll take, and the justifications we have.
And is love really the greatest journey? What about self-discovery? I imagine those two journeys can be very closely linked. Love seems like such a confusing, nebulous thing… it frightens and intimidates people; might it be better to not seek it out? That’s what a journey implies to me – searching for something or reaching a destination. Excuse me while I put on my Merriam-Webster hat for a minute… If you’re looking for something that’s called a search. If you’re going somewhere that’s taking a trip. If you’re traveling without a destination you’re wandering. And yes, of course, “not all those who wander are lost…” (who said that?) I’m not sure what any of this is supposed to mean… This isn’t even a subject that I’m generally comfortable thinking about because it is so confusing and even if you think you’ve reached an answer in your head how do you possibly apply this to life? And what are all these platitudes about love and sacrifices and chances worth, if you can’t actually apply them to your life, or if nobody is willing to?
“Not all those who wander are lost” is, of course, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s _The Fellowship of the Ring_. It is an old Elven prophecy that Bilbo translated into the common language that refers to Aragorn, who will reclaim his kingship of Gondor.
(Aren’t you glad you asked?)