What is Love?

As I was reading the psychoanalytic view of The Great Gatsby, I stumbled upon an intriguing quote:

"..romantic love is the stage on which all of our unresolved psychological conflicts are dramatized.." 

This made me think deeply about what love truly is, which forces me to ask:

Is there such thing as love, or do we only love what we psychologically need based on our past?

I know that in The Great Gatsby, each relationship had their own problems, and it was because of the fact that they were merely using each other for their own benefits, which ultimately related to how they were raised.

But let's face it: The Great Gatsby is not the best book to rely on for love advice.

If love were solely based on psychology, then why is it possible for two people to care more about each other than themselves? It takes two to love, and it would be extremely invalid to say that every single relationship in this world consists of two people who are only drawn to one another because one contains the psychological needs of the other... everyone getting struck by lightning is more likely than this being true.

And love isn't only an emotion you have toward someone, but it is composed of many emotions that two people feel for each other; it has to be felt by both in the relationship. Love combines two people into one, creating a brand new human being.

Love DOES exist, but it's one of those things that is rare to find and hold onto; but when you find it, your whole world will light up and you will know, deep down, that you're in love.

Please Don't Remind Me

In "The Great Gatsby," the message of how people cannot repeat their past, no matter how hard they try, is thoroughly enforced. Although, I see myself and Gatsby as two tremendously different people.

Why do I say that? For one, as Gatsby becomes addicted to recreating something that was once lost, I have no intentions of attempting to rebuild damage that was done in my past. 

"Your past comes back to haunt you." That's how my mind interprets thoughts from back in time. I think of it as a ghost that shows up in my worst nightmares, or a cloud that soaks me to the point where my whole body shrivels up like a raison. 

For example, it's when I see a chubby photo of myself from the fourth grade, or when I remember the time I had gotten into a fight with my best friend; I would never want to relive these painful memories.

And that's what I don't understand about Gatsby. A girl he loved had left him for another man because she was impatient. I don't know about you guys, but wouldn't that ring a bell in your head telling you that she's not the right girl? Isn't her leaving you awful enough, or do you really want to go for her again and eventually have her ditch you once more?

The past is something that shouldn't be messed with. There's a reason why we are not allowed to turn back time, because if we were capable of doing so, our lives would be full of despair and destruction.

A clock keeps moving. It keeps ticking. It never stops. This is our life; always moving, always ticking, never stopping; and we need to be okay with that.

So, "tomorrow we will run faster, [and] stretch our arms farther" to create a life that we can continue to build on, without wishing to start all over again. This way, we can focus on our future instead of being held back by our pasts.

Spread the Love

"'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,'" he told me, "'Just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had'" (Fitzgerald 5).

This quote stands out from the rest of the novel as it is extremely blunt, although accurate. Much of our population is quick to judge people over just one measly action or word.

We have to be honest with ourselves; we put a title on people way too fast and that needs to stop. Obviously, this isn't always the case, but we do it without even noticing most of the time.

For example, just a few days ago, I overheard two girls talking about a young man that had just walked by. Their exact words were:

"Who is that?"

"I don't know, but he's creepy."

He hadn't even speak to them! They didn't give him a chance to prove himself, because they had already conjured up a conclusion with no evidence to back it up.

Sometimes, the people we judge aren't having the best day or are going through a difficult event in their life; and we only make it worse with our harsh words.

And don't get me wrong, I probably do it all the time without even realizing it, because like I said earlier, this is a common flaw that is built inside of us. We cannot control it, but we can try to overthrow it. We have to try our very best to understand if what we're thinking is actually logical and inoffensive. If we can successfully do this, there won't be those "loners" that have been secluded from the rest of the school because of inaccurate rumors. Problems with bullying should decrease exponentially. Kids will acquire more friends that they can love and trust.

We would be one step closer to achieving true happiness for each and every one of us, because there would be less hatred to spread.