bone of my bone, breath of my breath

"Well, you might say it's because I need you...If you were any other woman, I could tell you I loved you, easily enough, but not you--because you've always seemed to me like a part of myself, and it would be like saying I loved my own eyes or my own mind. But have you ever thought of what it would be to have to live without your mind or your eyes, Kate? To be mad? Or blind?" --from The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope

There is such a thing as a force greater than Love. It's name is Necessity. It's name is Need. nothing would be of any consequence if we did not feel a need for it. Love would be nothing, mean nothing, if we did not need it. government would hold no sway if we did not need organization and structure. laws would not have to be obeyed and reinforced if we did not need justice. religion would be worthless if we did not need God. and death...death would be powerless if we did not need something to fear, or in some cases, if we did not need something to look forward to. we need food, we need water, we need shelter. these are things we assuredly cannot live without and they are all driven by necessity: we would not need these things if we did not need to survive.

and of course the ultimate test of any theory or belief is time. hasn't history proven that force of necessity has lead to great shifts? survival of the fittest is one of the phrases born from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and surely that advocates the influence of need. the realists were driven by reason, the romantics by passion, but i think the common person is driven most be need.

i do not say all these things to reduce the value of love. i just feel that too much...of everything is about love, these days. if a child becomes delinquent, a lot of people believe its because they didn't have enough love. but in a lot of the cases i have seen, too much love is the cause--spoiling the child, letting them do whatever they want because you love them too much to inhibit them...i think its ridiculous. love has become the poorest excuse for apathy and indolence. love and freedom both. i do not care about your stupid ideals or your notions of freedom and love for all. i do believe in compassion, but that does not mean i will let a mother have her unwanted child killed just because she is my sister and i love her. if she were my sister the more i would reprimand her or prevent her from doing such a thing because i love her. when you speak such a word, don't think of what it means--think of what you're willing to do in the name of it. when you say it, don't just say it with your mouth because that's not where it comes from. its not just a word with an inevitable meaning, it entails so much more. and i truly, truly hate it when people use love as an excuse for whatever crap they're pulling. it's like those people who rebel because they have no idea what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

so next time someone tells you that "all you need is love" remember that Need is the one cock of the walk, and Love is never used properly.