Romeo and Juliet

I finally watched the rest of Romeo and Juliet tonight. A few weeks ago I watched the first half, and never got around to finishing it. Everytime I walked past the dvd, I wanted to finish the last hour but I didn't want to see the inevitable, the death of an amazing love. I thought I would definitely cry after I watched the movie, but I didn't. However, I'm extremely sad. So many things racing across my head.

Love is somethign that is amazing and beyond all of us. If it is so strong, how can one love a person one day and then want nothing to do with them the next. I say that it's because people throw around the term too loosely. Are they really in love with you when they say it, or are they infatuated? That's why I am always so careful to use the word. I may be hesitant to use it, but when I do, I mean it with all of my heart.

In addition, I see so many parallels in terms of the movie and modern day life. There was so much struggle between the two to find acceptance of their love, it was forbidden love. It almost seems destined that I watched this movie, since at the present, there is the whole battle over equality for marriage at debate (proposition 8). Gays and lesbians are trying to fight for their rights to marry eachother, to celebrate their love for one another publicly, to be treated as equals. There is intense struggle, and the result of the election will change history either way, whether it makes new ground setting precedence or whether it sets us all back years and increases our struggle. I hope that the latter will not be the case.

The movie makes me emotional on so many levels, but mostly it ticks me off too because of the whole debate about the sanctity of marriage at risk with the tolerance of gay marriages. In today's society, is the institution of marriage really all that sacred anymore? Teens and even adults are marrying for all the wrong reasons or without love, to be divorced years later. Yet, somehow the allowance of gay marriages somehow infringes on this sanctity? Well I will agree that in some cases it may, but for many gay couples, they have been with their life partners for decades. They love eachother, period. If that love is not sacred, I don't know what is. However, it is not fair that they are not being given the same rights as everyone else.

I don't see myself getting married anytime soon, but I want that option to be there when I find my Romeo oneday. I want our love to be celebrated among friends and family, publicly.