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Falling In Love
By Robert Paul
Reyes
Falling in love! What a
romantic phrase! What
magical words! Does it not
bring a smile to your face
when you hear those sweet
words? It doesn't bring a
smile to my face. I have
coldly analyzed that well
worn phrase and here is what
I have discovered.
Falling intimates a loss
of control. Regardless how
agile you are you can't
choreograph your fall. You
have no control of your
limbs as they fall in an
unsightly heap. A galoot in
love seems to lose control
of his own tongue. He will
babble endlessly and
tediously about his dear
sweetheart.
Falling implies a
temporal state. A few years
ago there was a popular
commercial in which an
elderly lady fell down and
cried out "I've fallen and I
can't get up", but in real
life when you fall you brush
yourself off and get up
again. You fall in love and
when you regain your senses
you fall out of love. Only
in the movies do lovers walk
hand in hand into the sunset
and stay in love forever.
Falling suggests a factor
of unpredictability. Unless
you are involved in a scam,
you can't plan a fall. A
fall happens when you least
expect it. Likewise you
can't plan on falling in
love at a convenient point
in your life. You can't plan
on graduating from college,
finding a good job and then
falling in love. Love
happens when you least
expect it. It hits you like
a two-by- four right between
the eyes.
Falling hints of pain.
You can't fall down without
experiencing pain, suffering
a few bruises and maybe even
a broken bone or two. When
you fall in love don't
expect everything to go
smoothly. Expect bruised
feelings and perhaps even a
broken heart.
Falling brings to mind a
loss of grace and composure.
No clumsy oaf looks graceful
taking a tumble. A victim
gets up from a fall with a
sheepish expression on his
face. A buffoon in love will
perform all sorts of circus
tricks to keep the object of
his love amused. There is
nothing graceful about a man
or woman in love.
Falling indicates a loss
of free will. No person
makes a rational decision to
fall down. If you stub your
toe on a rock, you will lose
your balance whether or not
you want to. A lover is no
longer a free agent. He is
the under the spell of his
precious baby cakes. He
seeks only to do her will.
Falling points to
inevitability. No matter how
careful you are sooner or
later you will fall down.
Everyone falls down. Even
nimble athletes fall down.
You are only deceiving
yourself if you think that
you are immune to falling in
love. As sure as the night
follows day you will fall in
love.
Yes! You will fall in
love, but despite everything
I have written, falling in
love is not something to
dread. The Bible states that
"God is Love" and when we
are consumed with love for
someone else that spark of
deity burns ever so brightly
in us. Despite all the pain
and despite all the
misunderstandings, love is
still the greatest thing in
the world!
©1998, Robert Paul Reyes
Robert Paul Reyes lives
in Alameda, California, and
works for an insurance
company to support his
'real' occupation as a
writer. He is a
cyber-columnist for the
Internet version of the
Star-Telegram of Fort Worth,
Texas. His personal web page
is entitled
My Version of the Truth.
You can send him email
here.
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