The unexamined cliche

They say that the unexamined cliche is...I mean the unexamined life is...something bad, I think, so I'm going to do some examining (for a refreshing change of pace). I'm thinking about the old saying that it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

The thing is that when I say "love" I often times, most times, mean something different than most people do, which is to say that I often don't mean anything sexual or romantic by it. I love a lot of people. I've often said that I love everyone. It's a little bit off the mark. I probably don't love everyone but I'd like it to be true. I'd like to love everyone I meet with my whole heart and I often do.

I've been travelling the past couple months and I've met a bunch of really great people. It hurt to leave them. I never expected it. Maybe I should have expected it. I don't know myself well but I know myself well enough to know that I form connections with people, intense ones, quickly. I know that. So, it shouldn't surprise me that I connected with these people, or that those connections were so strong, or that it hurt so bad to leave them, or that I miss them so much now. It does surprise me though. Every time. Every time I meet people and connect with them it surprises me. That capacity for love and the fact that I still think of it as a good thing is astounding to me. In the end it makes me very happy even though I miss them.

So, back to the cliches. It turns out they're all true.