Preservation (A Short Thought)

[AgathaCheddarbane]

Love is preserved in the amber of autonomy.


This is the conclusion I came to after a series of questions I asked myself this past Wednesday morning. I repeated it, again and again, until it stuck.


"I love you," my mother had told me.


"I love you, too," I'd replied.


I knew it wasn't true. Not anymore. But there it was, still existing. In my automatic response, there was love. I can't deny that I didn't once love my mother, else I would never have said it before. Whatever my reason, I know I did once love my mother. And there was proof.


Can the same be said for lovers? For husband and wife? We often say that we don't really think about our words, and so they have no meaning. When we tell someone we love them, it is an automated response. Well, if it is automated it had to be set that way. We must have really thought about it at some point. Yes, I love this person. And so when we say it, it is at the very least a reverberation of love. And so I came to my conclusion, it doesn't matter if you think about it every time. It only matters that you think it once.


Love is preserved in the amber of autonomy.


Held, but untouched. Still here, to be observed.

 

[Dusky]

I see a lot of potential in this. The sentiment is certainly an interesting one.


I'm not sure if you consider yourself a writer or not, but as a writer myself my desire is to see this expanded. The careful explanation makes it seem more like an essay and, while interesting, takes away from some of the emotional impact. It might behoove you to set this aside and work the idea into another piece - a poem or short story, for instance - at a later date, ideally cutting out some of the extraneous words.


The golden rule of writing? Show, don't tell.


tl;dr: I really like this sentiment and think it falls short in that it tells directly instead of showing through language, events, metaphor, etc.

 

[AgathaCheddarbane]

It's interesting that you say that because when I started typing this, I told myself I was going to get the bare bones of the thought and write it like someone presenting a theory. I was imagining my English teacher reading it as I went, so I kinda shied away from making it too personal.


I really appreciate your comment! You have good advice, and I'll definitely consider writing something a little more showy.

 

[Grey]

Echoing Dusky. Definitely worth expanding. Personally, I found the presentation oddly fitting - like someone terrified of making the wrong choice, trying to think through it. Not to make it sound manufactured, but you could include the more emotional metaphors like outbursts.


It's certainly a very relatable sentiment.