The magic of language – or written communication – is that it can chain random words into messages, even if the words are not always connected among themselves. For example, these three words (Time, Love, Death) possess a high and potent value by themselves; but when combined, they start whirling around each other; interacting and producing several interpretations.
This happens so, because these words – as many others – are bound to us; they belong to us; because as reasonable human beings, we understand their meaning. They aim at our very core, to that place that makes for our essence as unique individuals, making us relate at a higher level than we connect with words like “Shaft” or “Railing”
“How could you value one word over another?” (Image taken from the Internet)
Time
If we were to pass judgement on words and their meanings, we would certainly be faced with an insurmountable task. How could you know which one has a higher value? After all, words have different meanings and interpretations, which makes this task even harder to achieve. However, as impossible as it may seem, we can, in my opinion, establish different levels of importance to words, and by doing so, we can begin to acknowledge why certain words can carry a higher punch than others.
Take “Time”, for example. As a concept, time seems like a constant line; something that keeps moving on and on, even if we are not there. Time is a concept born out of a physical phenomenon, for it is determined by the rotation of our own planet in regards of the rest of the Universe.
Each year, we celebrate our birthday, as it marks another year of “life”. The milestone of reaching another cycle of 365 days to complete another year, is a measure of time created by us. Humans have measured time since we first settled down and started growing our own food. With the birth of agriculture, time tracking became a necessity for our own survival and the preservation of the human species.
Ancient Egyptian Water Clock. Image taken from the Internet.
However, time is something we also feel as we grow old; as we are no longer children and youth starts fading away. You can feel like a kid, but if you are halfway between 20 and 30, your health may be perfect, but you are not as young as you were yesterday. Alas, you won’t be as young as you are today, tomorrow. For every day, trillions of cells inside our bodies die and are replaced by new ones until, eventually, our internal organs stop producing some of them and our health starts decaying. The process is slow in normal healthy people, but this does not mean it ever stops, because it started in the very moment we were born and will carry on until the day we die. On the other hand, there is also the organic risk of the process in which our own bodies stop producing certain key cells; But we’ll talk about Death in a couple of words away.
Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in “The Kid”. 1921.
Love
What else can be said about love? There is a famous quote by Charles Chaplin, that makes for a fitting answer to this question:
“Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.”
Even after this great line, we carry on trying to find our own meaning for the word “love”, one that satisfies us. I believe love is a blend of chemical interactions that lead to the ability to “feel” emotions that can be interpreted by our brains. That is the objective reading of the word, the one that lacks the “emotional” component attached to it: but there is also another meaning, one that has a more personal value to us, as it reflects how we relate to the feeling we consider at the highest level, the purest one.
There are many forms of love. Love for another human being; love for a cause, whether it is Animal Rights or the liberty of a country. Love for third ones, love for our children and our parents. Love as a manifestation of passion and well wishes upon others.
How can we measure love?
As if we were answering a test, this question is one that sometimes, or very seldom, is asked. We don’t go around asking stuff only philosophers asked, such as “What is the meaning of life?” or “why are we here?”, but in any case, these are questions that also pack a lot of punch, as they drive us to the realm of again, internal questions and personal issues.
Whether influenced by religion or just simple curiosity, entering the gate that leads to these topics, may also be an exercise on the understanding of the concept itself. Love can be measured in millions of ways, because each act that benefits others can be a measure of love. For example, when you donate to a local charity, you are expressing an act of love, even if you were only helping for tax purposes, the help that donation provides remains as an act of love, because it helps others.
Love can also be an illusion, or something we made up as we grew older. Among the thousands of the things we believe in, most likely love has a meaning that keeps reinventing as we change perceptions throughout life. Some people say love is not more than just the kick of endorphin into our brains; others refer to it as the “engine of the world”, adopting a more poetical approach.
In any case, its various denominations make this such an extensive matter, that thousands upon thousands of books, poems, films, paintings and even churches and castles have been built just in the name of love. The measure of love is what we feel we can do to help others, or because we love them so much that we procure their well-being.
Whether it is our children – if we have them – or any other relative or friend we feel close to, if our love is genuine, we will express such love in multiple ways. A gift, a PS4 game console, a Sweet-Sixteen party or an education fund, they all make for expressions of love.
In the next article, we shall wrap this two-part dissertations about Time, Love and of course, Death.
Thank you for reading.
Andreina Maneiro