Tuesday, January 31, 2006 @3:36 PM
'A puddle of water and a broken heart'
I realise the phrase may not seem to have the slightest ounce of relevance to love. You would be surprised at the ignorance people show in life. What is relevance to one? All we do is categorise 'things' into boxes - one would look at it and scoff, deciding it drops into 'irrelevance'.
People are so wrong, yet we are afraid to say we're sorry. Even worse - we utter it once and we can't seem to stop saying it. Overuse of the word only goes to show that we are willing to accept it as the ultimate weapon for solving problems.
I lost my chance years ago, now I can only sit on the sidelines and watch. I was ignorant. He was the dream guy. In reality I saw an average male struggling to live up to expectations and lead a normal life. I think I was still on the sidelines at that time too, but in a front row seat – I've since shifted to the back.
I was introduced as a 'friend' to his girlfriend of the time. While I could tolerate most of his partners, this one irked me from the beginning. Let's just say her female instincts were on full blast, whereas his male instincts never seemed to be in tune. I thought she was going to be like the others. At one point in life, we underestimate the power of one person.
He moped around after she left. I had a few options, but I chose to let him be for a few weeks. Originally I believed that I could pop up after he recovered and everything would be fine. We'd continue being friends, and maybe then I'd have a chance at something beyond that with her out of the picture. Little did I know.
I happily reappeared by his side, to find him healed. I was introduced as the best friend. He introduced her as the girlfriend. I understood, I would only be raised to the level of best friend. Even with her out of the picture, there would always be another one.
Disheartened, my departure was speedy from his life, much to his confusion. His girlfriends were always more sensitive than he was. She invited me out to coffee. There was no way I could refuse, because it wasn't over the phone, she confronted me face to face.
"You wanted to brag about your relationship with him?"
She merely smiled gently and shook her head.
"A puddle of water and a broken heart."
"Sorry?" I asked in confusion.
"Can you see the similarity in the two?"
I answered with my silence and ignorance.
"A puddle of water waits as does a broken heart. Someone might come along and step in the puddle; someone might decide to ignore it; someone may take a mop and gather the water up. A broken heart really waits for someone to pick up the pieces."
Her words hit me, as it dawned on me that she had picked up his broken heart. Her hard work had won his heart back. Where was I when he was recovering?
Ignorance.