Some Say Love...

Some Say Love…

Some qualities and characteristics to be found to committed relationships include: respect, loyalty, trust, and honesty.  Respect is an important thing to give and to receive. Respect shows that you think that the other person has value and that you want to show them that. Loyalty is the willingness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship. Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life. Trust in human relationships is indeed delicate.  Actions speak louder than words and building trust is probably the most important component of a solid and healthy relationship. Trust can take a long time to build, but at the same time can be destroyed by a single action or misconception.

In honor of the opening of Zombie Prom at Skippack Playhouse I have decided to only use love songs from the musical. One of the first songs, “Ain’t No Going Back", includes the following lyrics:

“AS BOUNDLESS AS THE HEAVENS/ ETERNAL AS THE SOUL/ AS DESTINED AS THE SUNSET/ WHEN THE CREDITS START TO ROLL/ AS CERTAIN AS THE STARLIGHT/ WHEN THE DAY HAS GONE TO BLACK/ YES, IT'S SAID AND DONE/ OUR SOULS ARE ONE/ AND THERE AIN'T NO GOIN' BACK”

            This section goes along with the loyalty and respect desired and expected in a relationship.

The song, “The Voice in the Ocean” also has themes of trust, loyalty and honesty.

“THE VOICE IN THE OCEAN/ THAT RANG IN YOUR HEAD/ THAT SANG THROUGH AND GOT YOU/ TO RISE FROM THE DEAD/ THE VOICE IN THE OCEAN/ THAT CALLED THROUGH THE SEA/ OH, YOU KNEW THAT THE VOICE/ YES, IT'S TRUE THAT THE VOICE WAS ME/ OH, IT WAS ME.”

In addition, the song “How Can I Say Goodbye?” has the ideals of loyalty:

“HOW CAN I SAY GOOD-BYE TO LOVE/ WHEN LOVE IS ALL I'VE GOT?/ TOFFEE, I'LL SEE IT/ THROUGH/CAUSE BABY, I FOUGHT BACK HELL FOR YOU/ OH, I'LL NEVER SAY GOOD-BYE-EEII-EEII TO LOVE!... HOW CAN I SAY GOOD-BYE, MY DEAR?/ HOW CAN I NOT BE TRUE?”

“Easy to Say” also from Zombie Prom portrays the motifs loyalty and trust.

“EASY TO SAY/ THIS IS NO TIME TO COAST/ EV'RYTHING WARPS/ WHEN YOU'RE BOYFRIENDS A CORPSE/ STILL, LOVE MATTERS MOST!/ BETTER TO SAY/ ‘I’LL TRY’”

And the last song that fits in with the themes of respect, loyalty, trust, and honesty is “Forbidden Love”:

“HOW COULD I NOT BE TRUE?/ YOU GAVE ME MY FREEDOM/ … WHERE WOULD YOU HAVE ME GO?/ I'D FOLLOW YOU BLINDLY/ NOW AND FOREVER”

The changing face of marriage

The ‘domestic church’ is a very realistic concept in place for all people.  Wherever your home may be, that is the initial place of interpersonal associations and the development of love.  My personal  ‘domestic church’ has been a nurturing one.  It has extended from the small realm of my immediate family and connected with cousins, family friends, and other family members.  The changing structure and composition of marriage and family should not effect the how the current primary ‘domestic church’ effects children.  The pros include that if a child is raised in a loving environment where faith and believes are part of a lifestyle, then there should be no change.  However, if the outside population does not accept and evolve with the new culture, more negative feeling may be engrained into the child.

The study completed by the Pew Trust suggesting that those with college degrees are less likely to experience divorce/multiple marriages than those without college degrees is to be expected.  Part of being in college is developing deeper connections with your true self and with others in addition to expanding knowledge.  Those traits will assist in forming a strong relationship with another.  I do feel compelled to establish the ‘domestic church’ in my home because of the positive benefits one can gain through such an environment.

Vatican II

In reading “What Did Vatican II Say About Marriage?” by David Gibson, there were a few thing I noticed in relation to current society.  This may be because I recently watched “The New Normal”, but the main issue that stood out to me is that, in current society, we are more accepting of same-sex marriage.

 

“The title of one of the constitution’s sections refers to “the nobility of marriage and the family,” a nobility to be fostered. Marriage, the constitution says, is a “vocation.””

 

Is there a reason that marriage cannot be revered or a calling to those attracted to the same sex?

 

In addition, “the council esteemed conjugal love as a sign to others of Christ’s own love for the church.”  It also went on to speak about the marriage being a positive force for the entire church.  However, in today’s day and age, less people attend church and controversial views push people away.  Many LGBT people leave because they are not accepted, yet they would certainly add to the marriage influence.

 

“In their 2009 national pastoral letter…the U.S. Catholic bishops [said this about marriage as a vocation]: ‘The church teaches that marriage is an authentic vocation or divine call. As a vocation, marriage is just as necessary and valuable to the church as other vocations.’”

Marriage is just as necessary and valuable to the church.  However, not all forms of marriage are allowed.

“The bishops explain that “the call to love reaches beyond the home to the extended family, the neighborhood and the larger community.” They add that “this marital and familial love finds its complete expression, following the example of Jesus himself, in a willingness to sacrifice oneself in everyday situations for one’s spouse and children.”

-          This statement though is restricted to only heterosexual couples

“Conjugal love is not a fleeting event, but the patient project of a lifetime.”

I believe that people still try to follow a life with one marriage and connection.  In current society, however, the divorce rate is very high and commitment rates are very small.

Dating: What's the Point?

I understand the point of ‘dating’ becoming just a ‘practice for divorce’.  With the current ‘hook-up’ culture, short relationships seem to be the new normal.  I think that if a relationship is taken seriously by both parties it does not have to be a quick association.  It depends on the given scenario and those involved.  Most teenagers in 2012 are not looking at ‘dating’ in high school as something that will lead to marriage.  In most cases, couples spilt not because of a real issue in the relationship but because of separating for college.  I agree that in most cases breaking-up before college makes sense so that you have more freedoms however it attributes to the potentially lackadaisical relationships of the day. 

The ‘hook-up’ culture stems from the idea of trying many different things to find what you like.  It is can basically be ‘speed-dating’ without the conversation.  The term ‘hooking-up’ has a different definition to each person and setting.  In conjunction with that, when someone says, “Guess what? [Insert name here] ‘hooked-up’ with [insert 2^nd name here] last weekend!” There is, almost always, the follow-up question of, “What did they do?”  Although popular culture has attempted to put less visual terminology to making-out/oral sex/sexual intercourse/etc. the term still needs to be elaborated on when used in context similar to the aforementioned scenario.