Gold and silver

Above all things, I believe in love,” as Christian says in Moulin Rouge, and as he does, I fully do as well, but not in the sense that falling in love with one person is the most important thing in life. Love does make the world go round, but we must fall in love with ourselves first. It is true that you must love yourself before you can truly love another, because otherwise the golden rule would not be a thing. To treat others as you wish to be treated is meant for those who love themselves, for only then can we love others and treat them in kind. The energy we put out into the world is the energy that will come back to us, so we must be golden, and then at least we can always anticipate that there will be silver. Silver is lovely.
Everything does work out for the best somehow, and I find that even non-religious people believe this, even if they don’t believe in fate or that God has a plan for our lives. I would not say I am a very religious person, but spiritual, yes. It does seem that everything happens for a ‘reason,’ and every step we take in life leads us to where and who we are now.
Thus, you must bring your best everyday, so that you can trust that if you’re bringing your best, the world will return the favour. Karma is real. Love is real.
From a young age, girls are taught to look for love and find their male counterpart. Fall asleep and let your prince wake you with a kiss, transform your body so you can be with the guy you love, await the chance for someone to scoop you from the ashes of a less desired life. What are boys taught? To follow their dreams against all odds, to save the girl and save the world, to do anything they can in order to be successful or survive.
Satine of the Moulin Rouge is not looking for love, she knows that she cannot fall in love if she wants to succeed. A tragic love story this film is, that differs dramatically from fairytales, and that I hold close to my heart, but it still shows how men are trained to be selfish, and women to be selfless, because even as Satine tries to look out for herself, she succumbs to love, and she saves Christian’s life in her selfless attempt to leave him/show him love.
Although Satine and Christian do not get their happy ending, the story shows the truth in that it is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all. I am so thankful that I have been in love, and of course I hope to be in love again, but what we should teach girls and boys alike is that “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return,” but also that it can be more broadly applied. Yes, I am so thankful to have felt truly in love with a boy, and have experienced love on a deeper level, but finding a boy or girl to love is not the only way to be happy in life, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. At least it happened, and we can learn something from every moment.
There is such joy in simply loving our family and friends, and the people in our lives make life worth living, and we should not put all our hopes for happiness into just one other person. Our love story does not have to be the main storyline, it can be a side story, or a chapter. We should not to look for the happy ending, but live the golden rule, and look for silver linings, and maybe we won’t all get a fireworks in the finale, but everything will work out for the best. Love yourself and love others as you want to be loved, and everything will be okay.