A Promise To Love… Always.

“I will always love you… I promise.” - says a magnet someone gave me a couple of months ago. It was meant to be given to me a couple of years back, but that person never got the chance to do so. Albeit extremely heart-warming when I first received it, in retrospect, I’m beginning to wonder if the square magnet is all there is to the promise.

I ask, “Am I being naïve? Or am I being naïve?!” Since when was ‘the promise of loving someone always’ so easily captured in a square magnet showing the words with two cutesy lil’ pups lying on top of each other? Isn’t that a tad silly if you give some serious thought to it? Well, if you think it is, good. You didn’t have to go through certain incidences that were depressing and heartbreaking like I did. Only now I question – when is a promise, a promise? And when is love, really love?

A promise - a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing. “Pinky promise!” “I promise you.” “Promise!” - are often used and heard of since childhood. What some of us fail to realise is the weight those words and phrases carry. We grow up not comprehending the impact of the words that we use in our daily lives. We use words in the same way we use water - we know words are essential for communication, but we seldom appreciate the value of these precious necessities. How words have double meanings, connotations and etc. I’m pretty sure we don’t need to be taking Literature to appreciate the beauty of words, do we? That in mind, I believe few have been taught the meaning of a promise, much less the importance of fulfilling it. A promise is a true promise when it is being honored. Conversely, a promise is an empty promise when no/minimal actions are taken to bring it to past. And throughout life, we make promises where we’re actually assuring the other party that they can trust us. But what have become of promises now? Nothing. Nothing but a bunch of loosely used words.

Love. I bet the world can write never-ending volumes on it. But I’ve got my own perception. To me, love is the act of selfless giving stated in John 3:16, the verse from the bible that is relatively well-known, “For God so loved the world that He gave…” Isn’t that awesome? I love you and I give. He loves you and he gives. She loves you and she gives. If you love somebody, you give, naturally. I’ve experienced times when I’d just buy stuff for my sister for no reason. I don’t know why but there’s something inside me that just wants to do it. Also, if you give, you don’t necessarily have to love that person to do so. I once came across this lady at a shopping mall, she asked me for money to feed her family at home. She was telling me how her parents didn’t have food to eat and all. I told her I’d accompany her to buy dinner and I’d even buy them more food if they were still hungry. So I didn’t exactly love this woman but I empathised with her and gave her what she needed. Here’s the revelation: You can give without loving, but you definitely cannot love without giving.

And so the story of the square magnet comes as far as here. I don’t know if the promise still holds true. But here’s me.. hoping so much that it is.