What We Talk about When we Talk about Love

"Say what you want to, but I know it was," Terri said. "It may sound crazy to you, but it's true just the same. People are different, Mel. Sure, sometimes he may have acted crazy. Okay. But he loved me. In his own way maybe, but he loved me. There was love there, Mel. Don't say there wasn't."

At the begging of this exert it really hit me to a different point. Of course I believe and see that Terri's lover was crazy and had problems that caused him to act in the manner he did, but it touches me because it is really sad. Just as Terri's lover killed himself, my grandfather did the same thing. And I completely understand that there are people that take their lives because they are simply misunderstood and mentally ill, and something triggers them and they end up taking their lives. It is such a sad thing to think about because when something is more powerful than you can over come and you end up taking your life because of it. It just breaks me heart, just like it did when I found out my grandfather had way before I was even born. My grandfather was not mentally ill, but did commit suicide because of love. I think that with some people like my grandfather, they long for this big huge word they have heard about all their lives and then they find it and it is taken from them in the blink of an eye and what they thought would last forever did the exact opposite. I know that this whole story was not just about this one phrase about love, and the suicide aspect of it. I just could I guess relate to what it was trying to say about Terri's ex lover. What a sad and tragic thing to not only be mentally ill and take your life, but to never really know love.

I also look at this exert in another way. The word love is a whole different meaning to a lot of people. One person's view on love can completely be different from another's. Love to some if showing it, and to others its just a word. It just depends on the person I think. In the text I see that Terri thought that even though her lover did things such as beat her and terrorize her she still knew that deep down he loved her. Or, with Mel and Laura. They try so hard to prove to Terri what love really is. With stories and opinions, but really do Mel and Laura really know what love is either.

I think a powerful statement in this text is, " What do any of us really know about love..?"

I do not think there is a more powerful statement. When do we actually fall in love? When do we find love... or when does love find us? Is there a certain age where we fall in love... or is there no falling or just love. I do not think anyone can really answer that question. I think it all has to do with the personal experiences and how someone views such a thing as love, and or being in love. Love to me is a funny thing, because so many different people view it differently. But something as simple as love, you think it wouldn't have to be so complicating, but it ends up being that way. If people just started listening to their own hearts and minds about what they think and truly feel about love they would not need the opinion of others to suffice them.

I enjoyed this text because it showed the different views of love and what others thought of it. It got me thinking about what I really think about love and how I view it as a person.