Valentine’s Day: Finding a Partner

Today being Valentine’s day, you are probably waiting for the card ‘Be my Valentine ‘or an E mail to that effect to reach you today. This is a deeply rooted American tradition, which has caught up with the local teenagers, especially the ones studying in International schools  
Love is a favourite theme of many poems and a hackneyed theme of pop songs, both ancient and modern. Modern pop songs sing the praises of carnal love and are not worthy of any serious contemplation. But the older pop songs are certainly meaningful. The British poet, Rupert Brooke, said that when he fell in love, ‘The world in him awoke!’ When it happens to you, you would feel exactly like that, as it did happen to the writer when he fell in love. That is probably why Elvis Presley sang ‘Because of love, I’m a hundred feet tall, I can bounce this world like a little old ball’. If it has not happened to you, wait till it happens to you and you would realise how true it is!  
Perry Como sang, ‘When you fall in love, the world is a wonderful place.’ Doris Day sang of a similar idea, ‘Everybody loves a lover, I’m a lover, Everybody loves me,Yes they do, and I love everybody, since I fell in love with you!’ Franky Laine sang, ‘ Love is a golden ring on your finger, love isn’t just for tonight’. That song was probably aimed at all the good-time Charlies! From what the writer has observed, there seem to be plenty of them in Colombo! Jamaican Johnny topped it all singing, ‘Love, love, love in the morning, love, love, love in the evening, love, love, love in the night, always good for your appetite!’ So the writer advises you to try that cheap and readily available medicine, whenever you have indigestion or lack of appetite!   
A humour columnist said, ‘Love is the only game which can be played by two and both can win!’ If love happens to you, here are some quotations to ponder. These quotations were from a booklet given to me by a goody-goody gentleman in Church. The first three are from anonymous writers;   
(1) ‘One of the most amazing gifts in life is to find someone who knows all your flaws, differences and mistakes, yet still loves everything about you.’  

(2)’When you stop trying to find the right man and start becoming the right woman, the right man would find his way to you.’  
(3)’A heart-break can be a blessing from God. It’s just His way of letting you realize He saved you from the wrong one’.  
(4)’Happy is the man who finds a true friend and happier is he who finds that true friend is his wife’(Frank Schubert)  
In everyday parlance, one often hears the statement, ‘Life is not a bed of roses.’ The writer would like to make his own alterations. ‘Married life is not a bed of roses, for there are thorns underneath. It all depends on the turn you make! Another statement one often hears, in the case of successful marriages, is ‘Marriages are made in Heaven’, implying that it is the Almighty who decides your ideal partner, whom you marry.  
The Good Book says, ‘Two are better than one; for if one falls, the other would hold’. While this refers to Platonic friendship, it applies to marriage as well. Once you get married (to the right partner), you would realise that whatever problems you have, there is someone to fall back and give you moral support and sometimes physical support.   
There are other quotations about marriage itself. The one mentioned by the priest, the late Rev.K.J. Mills, at the writer’s wedding is classic. 

1. He said, ‘You would have learnt in Arithmetic that one plus one equals two. But in marriage you would realize that one plus one equals one.’  
2. ‘The man and wife are partners, like two oars in a boat’(Henry Smith).  
3. ‘The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.’(Robert Dodds)  
4. ‘There is no greater risk than matrimony, but there is nothing happier than a happy marriage.’(Benjamin Disraeli)  
5. A long-lasting marriage is built by two who believe in and live by the solemn promise they made.’(Darlene Schacht)  
6. ‘The happiness of married life depends upon making small sacrifices with readiness and cheerfulness’.(John Seldon)  
7. ‘A happy marriage is a union of two good forgivers.’(Ruth Bell Graham)