This last week for example. The prompt I chose from the Writer's Workshop was #3.
3.) "It was as if an invisible thread hooked her to her boy. The thread could go taut or slack but it could never come undone, it could never reach the end of its spool because there was no end; it bound them forever." What does unconditional love mean to you?(inspired when a mother is forced to give her baby up in The Seamstress by Frances De Pontas Peebles)
What does unconditional love mean to you?
I received this on Monday and it took me all day to figure out which prompt i was going to try. It was due to be turned in by Thursday! I wrote and rewrote it, struggled with it, called my mother about it. Discussed it with friends and hubby and got nowhere. Thought about changing the direction of the content and even maybe from a different viewpoint, nothing, it was a mess.
My mother and bf said I need to scrap the idea of writing it cause I am too hardcore and haven't experienced it, to know anything about it. I tried to disagree but two against one is never good.
Final consensus on Unconditional Love is that it is something that only exists with a parent to their child and even sometimes that isn't true. I never received that kind of love from my birth mother and longed for it for way too long. I also never had any children therefore I know nothing about that side of it. Soo, long story short I have no business trying my hand at something I am clueless about, so I missed the deadline.
Then there is this weeks Spin Cycle. Prompt is Respect.
Aye, aye, aye. Once again I turned to all the usual folks to give me their take on the subject, anything that might trigger a memory or create something in this (what seems like) dead brain. The only thing I was left with is just how different folks perceive respect to be.
I find it a little funny that this word came up cause it has to be one of the most difficult words for me. What is respect? How do you even define it? The word itself as been used many many times throughout my life and every time I question it, I get all different types of answers. My mom throws it around as a warning to straighten up or back down. Aretha uses it as a "no appreciation".
When I was young I thought I pretty much knew what was expected of me as far as showing respect, but after one particular boyfriend I suddenly was in a whole new world of what respect meant and felt clueless.
Heck I'm not really sure I have ever been shown "respect" cause I probably wouldn't recognize it if I had. I know there is the whole Ma'am and Sir thing, which I totally hate by the way! (when it is thrown MY way)
So, my friends I will bore you no further on my inability to comprehend either of these subjects, other than to say...my take on it all...
Unconditional love comes from the respect you have built through a substantial bond and/or relationship.
AND yeah that probably doesn't make any sense to most, but for some reason it does to me.
I am a contradictory person. LOL!
11 comments:
You have dogs and cats, yes? Then you know about unconditional love...
What Grace said!
Pets do give us unconditional love for sure. But I think you're right about it being the love of a parent for their child. Nothing my kids could do ever would make me stop loving them. And trust me, Molly's tested that theory once or twice. There were days I thought one or both of us would never make it to her 18th birthday. Lol.
♥Spot
Actually, this post makes a whole lot of sense to me. What confuses me most about respect is that it can embrace so many definitiions, one of the more fluid words out there, not concrete like others.
Unconditional love? I think all love is considered unconditional love until one of the parties adds conditions to it. THEN unconditional love cannot exist in that realm. Ooh, that was heavy even for me.
You're linked!
Pets (at least dogs) do give unconditional love. AT any rate, it sounds as if you just wrote your post on respect by saying you don't feel you're experiencing it! It sort of threw me as well.
Visiting from the Spin Cycle - I love your writing style and I am with you on the wandering around trying to feel out what exactly it is about respect that can be written down. It was a tough one for me too. LOL
Visiting from the spin cycle. I agree that both topics are difficult to pin down. I think respect can mean different things in different situations and to different people. And unconditional love? Yeah, the only thing I can compare it to is my love for my kids, but still it is sooooo complicated!
Both very complicated subjects with multiple meanings depending on how you are looking at it but I think you covered it very well in your own way. I love your writing.
Both very complicated subjects with multiple meanings depending on how you are looking at it but I think you covered it very well in your own way. I love your writing.
At the end of your post, you gave a very good summary of both unconditional love and respect. Both are tough topics.
I'm with Carol - I think you did a great job summing up both unconditional love and respect...both very difficult subjects to write about. And I was able to follow your line of thought(s) just fine! ;)
Spinning Up Some Respect
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