I am currently writing this before I begin reading bell hooks book All About Love. But I currently have some thoughts on the topic that I want to briefly discuss. As someone who has been on the carousel of dating apps, it seems that love is dead, we can never recover, and that the breeding period is officially over. Long live the final vestiges of humanity, Elon Musk’s nineteen children (and also his dad’s child with his step daughter????????????why?????????). But strangely, like Journey, I’ve never stopped believing.

Love is as tangible as it is quantifiable. It’s fairy dust, it’s zip-zap, it doesn’t exist. It is however, what we use to judge the world with. How we decide to forge relationships. How we go about deciding how we continue to live. Love is measurable. Somewhere in our bodies. Otherwise, why do we decide to enter a relationship with someone?

I think what spurred this idea in me is the 2018’s Little Women. The idea that Jo March is an independent, strong woman who don’t need no man (sorry), yet still yearns for it is such a fascinating parallel. I love when characters (especially main ones) explore this inner dichotomy. It makes it exciting for me to experience their story, their conflict. I hate to say this, cause it’s a tired trope… but she’s just like me… fr. Ever since I read a play that was an adaptation of Little Women, I have simply fallen in love with the story. It is hard to look in the mirror and find yourself looking at someone you don’t recognize physically (me, being an early 20s pudgy-ish Asian man… and her being a fairly skinny white woman in her mid 20s). But Jo March and I share a lot of sentiments. And I think that’s very neat.

Her ideas on marriage particularly fascinate me. She chooses not to be with Laurie out of a sense of understanding what goes into a partnership. The trials, the tribulations. She cannot envision herself being happy in a partnership with Laurie. Or, at the very least, she cannot envision Laurie being happy in said partnership. That takes a lot of maturity to realize. But there comes a point where she yearns for love so hard, that she practically begs for it. And again, she just like me… fr.

I’ve had a lot of weird thoughts on what goes into an actual good marriage. Everyone on social media presents it as: “dumb husband and woman who loves him for some reason” or “when he actually comes to target with me???? perfect man!!” It’s insulting. Not only to the man in question, but to the woman who subjects herself to this. Yes, love takes many forms. But it’s insane to me that you can sit there and endlessly shit on someone you love and blast that to the public! It’s asinine sometimes.

Okay, so I have so many more thoughts. But I want to leave it there for now. Meanwhile, I will be reading bell hooks. Thank you.