The discovery of Romeo and Juliet in the strangest of all places...

In the little village of Harran, young Juliet instinctively knew

what to do, with no hesitation, no guile

a little smile and all was lost..

"Should I stay or should I go?" Poor Romeo wondered to himself..

"Do I have a chance?" The age old question..isn't that all we really want?

A chance to be happy, a chance to dream..and a chance to love! In this we take quite a few risks -to find "the" right one..But how do we know? We never really do, do we? As we get older we lose our naivity ,our instinctive trust that it will be alright! People change, love changes-and like Romeo's village friend seems to say..

"Lay your heart open and its bound to get hurt!" but..is the saying true, that old cliche?

"It is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all??"

For some that's not true, lost love makes them bitter! Better to erect a shell around the heart filling in all the cracks!!

For some love is bittersweet.. the joy of being together tainted with the knowledge, that it is fleeting..like a moment in time. One of life's endless little jokes which hurt like hell..

photo ©2006J.Jaulin

So the search continues..or does it? Can we stop it! The cry of "Yes!" echoes in the distance..the cries die down..no..and what is left? An empty shell-a cold empty shell..

True it may be possible to pretend to love, some perfect even the physical side of it, with no emotion tainting the heart, going through all the motions, at times so well the other side can almost forget-yet can that really be enough? Do they know the joy of being perfectly in tune with someone who has your heart? A cliche, perhaps, old fashioned-probably for some..but quite a real prospect however dangerous..

Although once I was criticized for saying "love" was a basic human necessity...I stand by it. Just as early canonists stood by it. Possibly misogynistic old men in the 12th century, but in some ways they were ahead of their time..

So unless a chance is taken, we never can know can we? Sometimes it is better to leave the known comfort of an old shell, and take a risk-it just might be worth it.