November 27, 2012 – YA Chit Chat

A family member was recently overheard saying there was nothing or no one in this world he would die for. I found this proclamation disturbing. The man’s a father, a husband. Is his family not worth dying for? Is his home, his morals, his way of life, his principles not worth dying for?

I cannot comprehend such a thought. I would fight, lie and die to protect those I love, no questions asked. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do, especially for my kids and grand-daughter, including giving my life, if it meant they had a chance at a better one. That’s how much I love them.

Unconditional, heart-wrenching love is the substance of all the great romances. We saw it in Romeo and Juliette; Jim and Della in “The Gift of the Magi”, Heathcliff and Catherine in “Wuthering Heights”. Undying love. Ultimate sacrifices. If you are a romantic like me, you know it’s what drives us, binds us to something beyond ourselves. The passion, the gut-churning pain of true love. The type of love that makes your heart feel like it’s going to pop because you just can’t hold anymore inside. The insatiable need, the desire to be with another, to be a part of another, to love with such conviction your soul feels as if it will explode, and the only thing keeping it from doing so is your own skin. The sort of love that brings you to your knees. The sort of love that leaves pools of tears on your very being. We all long for it. We all desire to feel it just once in our lives. And when we do, we cling to it, protect it. Shelter it. Die for it.

My heart grieves for those who feel there is no one or nothing to die for. I even give my characters someone or something to believe in so much that they would die for it. How very sad to go through life an empty shell, to never know what it truly means to love someone or something so strongly, it changes your entire life forever.

What about you? Is there anything you love so much you would die for?