Procrastinating leads to pontificating and, as this is a topic upon which I have pondered a lot lately, (and also because I'm having issues writing my World Civ paper), here I go
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The books I've read have taught me to believe that love is this massive, demonstrative emotion.
There is no emotion -- not one -- which requires any particular expression. How could it be otherwise, in a species which weeps for joy, groans with laughter, and laughs with anger?
Love is love, in its million variant hues and saturations. The demonstrativeness of someone of their love is a function of that individual, not of some universal essential of love. One person may protest their love to the skies, while another says simply, "As you wish."
Lots of people have said useful things about love, so I'll let that subject rest. But you also "wonder what really qualifies as a happy ending."
A "happy ending" is simply when you choose to end a story at a moment of happiness. All stories, if continued long enough, have the same ending -- death. Which need not be an *un*happy ending, if the life that led up to it was worthy.
In some ways, the classic "happy ending" is a lie. It implies that the heroes will always continue on as happily as they are doing now, and that all their troubles are over. Perhaps they are, but that's not the way to bet.
I recommend to you the concept "happy beginning". It has less of assumption, and more, I think, of honest hope in it.
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There is no emotion -- not one -- which requires any particular expression. How could it be otherwise, in a species which weeps for joy, groans with laughter, and laughs with anger?
Love is love, in its million variant hues and saturations. The demonstrativeness of someone of their love is a function of that individual, not of some universal essential of love. One person may protest their love to the skies, while another says simply, "As you wish."
Reply
A "happy ending" is simply when you choose to end a story at a moment of happiness. All stories, if continued long enough, have the same ending -- death. Which need not be an *un*happy ending, if the life that led up to it was worthy.
In some ways, the classic "happy ending" is a lie. It implies that the heroes will always continue on as happily as they are doing now, and that all their troubles are over. Perhaps they are, but that's not the way to bet.
I recommend to you the concept "happy beginning". It has less of assumption, and more, I think, of honest hope in it.
Reply
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