ROMANCE
So, it was St. Valentines’ Day yesterday and I wonder how
many of you were surprised with a dozen red roses and a large card with an
adorably cute animal on the front. How
romantic – or is it? Is this the true
meaning of romance, or a rather manufactured notion, designed to make a lot of
money for the producers of greetings cards and florists who have one of their
busiest days even though they are able to charge over inflated prices?
For me true romance is about doing something special for the
person you love for no other reason than you love them. It’s about being spontaneous;
it doesn’t have to be a special day like a birthday or anniversary, it is just
because you want to! Romantic gestures
do not have to equate to spending lots of money. Okay, so booking a spa weekend for two in a
rather expensive hotel could be a very romantic thing to do, but so is packing
a picnic and going for a long walk, or leaving a note telling someone how much
you love them in their lunch box! Romance
is intrinsically linked with love but emphasises emotion rather than sexual
desire.
Historically, the term romance originates with the medieval
idea of chivalry, an idea popular with story tellers across early modern
Europe. Marvellous tales of great
adventures were abundant, often including heroic knights rescuing beautiful
damsels from dangerous situations, possibly slaying a dragon or two on the way!
These stories were so powerful that even today they colour our vision of
medieval life. Romantic novels are still
popular today, but tend to focus on a romantic love between two people, who
often have to triumph against adversities before uniting in a fairy tale like
happy ending.
Did you know that what we commonly refer to now as science
fiction was originally called scientific romance? The term can be traced back to around the
1850’s and was used to describe scientific writing that also contained elements
of fiction. Also, we can talk of planetary romance, which refers to science
fantasy stories where adventures often take place on alien planets, and include
fights with alien cultures. Sometimes
these adventures involve time travel to a future society on spaceships, flying
carpets or even flying phone boxes!
So, for those of you who say romance is dead, I would have
to disagree, romance has been around a long time and has survived because it is
popular. However, we don’t need card makers to pressure us into making romantic
gestures on certain days; they should be impulsive and unexpected. I suppose what I am really saying is that if
you love someone and want to show them how much they mean to you, you don’t
have to wait for special occasions or wait until you can afford an expensive
present. Do something romantic on a
random day and just wait and see how much pleasure you will bring to your
partner.
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