I am a bit of a romantic, albeit in sometimes a twisted way. I think part of that comes from how well my father treated my mother and us. Every year on Valentine's day we woke up to find a small candy on the table, one for each of us.
No ceremony, no card, just a thoughtful special treat from dad on Valentine's day.
One year I gave my wife the shape of a heart that I had cut out of felt. She asked what it was, and I said 'it's a heart felt valentine!'.
Simple stuff.
But I recognize that not everyone has the time or energy to put into doing these little things. So I wanted to post about how in fact your current burdens are in a way, romantic.
If nothing else, this is a defense against 'you were TOO busy to get me a card?!' accusations.
Have you ever heard 'This is like an albatross around my neck' ? It is a popular idiom, (or was) that means that you are bearing a heavy burden.
Many of us are bearing heavy burdens. And you often don't feel romantic when bearing them. Certainly you don't feel romantic because some calendar dictates you must feel that way on this day every year.
The phrase refers to lines from the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in which the mariner, who shoots an albatross, is obliged to carry the burden of the bird hung around his neck as a punishment for and reminder of his ill deed.
Why an albatross? Well besides being a big heavy bird, it was also a symbol of good luck.
God save thee, ancient Mariner
From the fiends, that plague thee thus
Why look'st thou so ? - With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
...
Ah. well a-day. what evil looks
Had I from old and young
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
So how is a dead bird romantic? Simply because it comes from poetry? No.
Coleridge published the work in 1798, in the collection of poems that is generally accepted as being the starting point of the Romantic movement in English literature.
I post this because last night, as often happens, a saying popped into my head and I wondered about its roots. Then I realized the parallel between the people currently discouraged and carrying emotional burdens, and the fact that today is Valentine's day.
I thought it an interesting tie. For me, carrying these burdens with a good attitude, can become an act of worship to God. We want to be free of them, but for as long as they are around our necks, our bearing them can be a sweet thing to God.
So in a way, dead birds, burdens, and romance, are all linked together.
And if all of that doesn't really do it for you, at least you now know who to blame for whatever romantic expectations today levies on you. Blame Coleridge!
-Chad
ps. Coleridge also coined 'achilles heel', 'pipe dream', and 'suspension of disbelief'.
So if your lady comes to you today and says 'I can't believe you didn't get me flowers and a card' you can say, "I am romantic though, and I will quote a famous romantic poet when I say:
-Believe it baby! Suspend your disbelief, your hopes of me having those things were pipe dreams, because romance is my achille's heel" .... she will most likely swoon at your ability to memorize the classics.
