Friday, February 22, 2008

Slaves to love

Are we such slaves to our need for love? All of us? Why do I see such strong intelligent women around me fall prey to this disease. All around me. They stay in abusive relationships, they take all kinds of rubbish, they go to such extents just to please someone, just to hear the words, I love you, or not even that. To feel needed.

Why is it so? Today we have all the necessities to build and to live a life self sufficient. And yet we need depend and be depended upon. Its not a financial need, its not security any more. Is it our motherhood instincts that prompt us into these things. Poor guy, he needs me, he needs my help, he can change only if I am with him... and so starts the spiral down to hell.

They use us, dont they. When they have the need for us, physical, psychological, spiritual, support or just friendship, they use us. Then they are there to wipe our tears, not a drop is shed, when they are all over us. They are there to hold us and to make us feel needed. But when they have gotten over that phase, then starts the mental break down. Cry them a river, they wont turn to you. They wont ask you even when you say you are down. They will cover the guilt by taking you out once in a while and buying you stuff, and there are good phases when you think nothing can be better than this. You go back to where you started, before you built all the defenses around you. And then the cut comes again. Isnt it familiar? Are they all like that?

I have seen women become progressively depressed with the situation. Sometimes they break the relationship. They walk off, after giving chance after chance for him to change. They are the wise ones, they are the lucky ones. The ones who cling on, they are in for trouble. What do they do, when they know they can get out of it, and yet things are out of hand. They try to send messages. Usually starting with harmless ones, tears, screams, bouts of madness... just to get the word across. Then it becomes a dangerous game. Throwing the glass at the wall to using the glass against her self. "I will hurt myself if you dont listen to me... I will do something to myself if you keep acting like an ass". All a game, a very very cruel dangerous game... a mind numbing painful game. They get used to that too.

I have read somewhere that a woman takes shit till she can take. Which means that we all have our threshholds.
One of my friends had to end up in hospital before she started divorce proceedings.
Another friend broke her engagement because he had already started abusing her and her family on the phone after drinking bouts.
Another acquaintance just left because of the loneliness, with children and a never-present husband. She did it with the support of another man... who she is in love with, but wait till they clock some time together.
Yet another took a bottle full of sleeping pills... and survived. She went back to him.
Another hanged herself with her husband and son in the adjacent room.
None an exaggeration. All true.

Have you heard of the woman who tried the way of suicide multiple times, always surviving? Pills one time, slashed wrists one time, jumping off stairs another... never good enough to kill her, all messages, all calls for help, for attention in a world that did not care. She was Diana... a princess, a beauty, an icon. And yet...

That is not to say men dont go through anything. To be fair to them, I have heard of many a man being hounded by women with issues. It starts with small jealousies... but men can get out of it easier. They dont have esteem issues like women have. They are not needy or clingy like us. Some amount of guilt may make them stick around for some time, but they flee soon enough. Most do, at least. For those who cant, welcome to the club.

Is it any use saying we need to change. Our basic natures wont change. We will not learn. We make the same mistakes again and again. Our needs wont change. Our desire to be desired wont change. We have to be mothers to the poor men in our lives. We have to stay around no matter what they say, no matter what they do. When they run away, we wait, patiently, silently... for the time when they will need us once more and come running back, tongues out, tails wagging.

7 comments:

  1. shouldnt really dwell much on these things when someone's in love... can't say what tomorrow may bring... so one's gotta love today like there's no tomorrow.

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  2. i agree to the hilt. more often than not girls *fall* in love and never learn to *rise* in it. cliches apart, its sad as it is shocking to see them trade self esteem for just those few moments of imperfect love.

    love that comes in tandem with mutual respect, et al can be fulfilling. And if the guy turns out to be a creep then...let go. its a beautiful world and as Alice Walker said about abusive relationships- "You have to git man off your eyeball, before you can see anything a’tall."
    great write-up...planning to forward it to some friends who need to get that monkey off their backs.

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  3. hmm, this is turning out to be a rather good blog. :D

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  4. "In love" is such an over-used and abused cliche. What does one mean when one say "Love". Is it a chemistry of the first 18 months? What after that? Then start the eye openers. Then start the learning to stay in love. I think my next writeup will be on this. :)

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  5. Such is love. And life. And if u can do something about it, go and snatch the bloody nobel away from everyone. Sigh!

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  6. & so speaketh my wise beyond her years (note the "beyond her years"... you owe me a treat for this) sister. now i know what is the source of all my wisdom. ;)

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  7. women are emotional fools, all the time dreaming of some happily-eve-after life with some prince charming..sadly enough am one of 'em, i know it but as u said..we wont change.

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