Tis the season for wedding proposal videos…
This one, on GMA today —
And believe me, I am all for the fairytale endings that romantic love can bring. I am currently on my search for that moment of connection when all things collide and the clouds burst open and choirs sing with hymns of love and…yeah, ok, I’m done.
A chat about connection made me reflect on society’s view of…well…connecting. How we are all connected by this silly little thing called the Internet, and at any given moment, at any time of day, something and someone is posting about something or someone, regardless of whether or not anyone cares. In this highly contextualized universe we call home, how can you tell if you’re connecting with someone, or if you’re just “connected”?
A walk around the city usually catapults me into contemplation, and this was no different. The conversation was of connection, as in human connection, and how it usually is something small, out of context, that inevitably catches the person off-guard…the goosebumps from an awkward, unexpected touch… the whisper of that first shared inside joke. Those moments when you feel alive, when your heart literally skips a beat and your breath is taken away. Those instances where everything feels connected, the sights, the smells, everything recorded into that part of your brain that holds onto things like a treasure trove. That, in retrospect, when all the fighting and misery is over, that part when you can just look back and smile at those moments. Those silly little moments that meant everything and nothing at the same time.
There are all these proposal videos on youtube (see this one, this one and this one) that are so well produced, so well documented that they kinda make me wonder if making a huge production out of your engagement story is not a recipe for disaster. What happened to just taking that moment…taking that significant other out for an ordinary walk on the beach and just popping down on one knee, sans the camera operator, sans the string quartet…just you and the one you want to spend the rest of your days with…with only you and that other person (and maybe the girl’s Dad) knowing…that one moment when it’s just the two of you, hand in hand, taking the leap together and connecting in some cosmic way that you (and you alone) will remember forever….
When everything is posted within a second of happening, you miss those moments of truth that can only happen off-line…those stolen glances across a crowded bar that make your heart flutter – that time when a hand is offered and accepted under the lights of a beautiful city – the brush of a strand of hair that highlights the glow of rosy cheeks as the sun rises in the East. Those are the moments I want to remember. When all the Instagrams of life have faded, those are the moments that are worth holding onto.
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Contemplations is a category where I ridiculously analyze all things life. The views are mine and mine alone. They are unsolicited, unedited and understandably vague. Enjoy!
