Sunday, July 22, 2012

Love is ( Sometimes ) Blind

Basically Fabulous Felix is one of those earnest happy-go-lucky fellows who allows otherwise painfully stinging insults to just roll off his back. Or perhaps slide off his Shield of Obliviousness, whichever way you put it.
Unlike me - I'm far less forgiving - I'd probably viciously gut that fellow with a carving knife or my tongue, whichever was closest at hand.

But even relatively serene fellows like Felix do have sore spots.

Especially when it comes to our spoken language. Like me, he's primarily an English-educated Chinaman who struggles with a little bit of Mandarin / Cantonese on the side. Which makes him the easy target of smug Chinese-educated scholars who insist on speaking only in pure Mandarin or Cantonese without exception while constantly poking fun at those who try.

Fabulous Felix is someone who tries - and had his admirable attempts shot down by just one of these pompous fellows. Something that he uncharacteristically never forgave, gaining his perpetual enmity. Till now he hardly mentions the reviled name without a faint sneer creeping across his usually placid face.

Turns out it's just unfortunate that the fellow wasn't someone he had a crush on. Since it basically changes everything.

Paul : So you stopped talking to this dearest enemy because he made fun of your Chinese?
Felix : Yes. Idiot.
Paul : You do know Silas did that to you twice last night? And probably another dozen times before to everyone else?
Felix : That's different!
Paul : How is that different?
Felix : It just is!
Paul : Just because you like him?
Felix : Umm...
Paul : You do know he loves to put down people?
Felix : Umm... did he?

Hate it in others and yet you find it tolerable in someone you love? Wouldn't that be the textbook definition of love is blind?

Damn, I'm almost perfect!
Yet love isn't actually blind. Call it temporarily sight-impaired instead. Entranced by their soul-consuming crushes, these lovers just choose not to see all the faults and weaknesses readily displayed in front of them. Further compounded with those rose-tinted glasses! Only much later when their senses finally return, do the warts start appearing one after the other.

Though he might deny it, Felix does have a fatal tendency to place his adored ones on a pedestal to be worshipped, blithely ignoring any flaw or imperfection. Me, I'm forever looking for the inevitable feet of clay. Wonder which is worse!

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