Sappy Songs

Some time ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine over the sappiness of love songs. It's true that they can often be saccharine instead of sweet, but I don't think the baby ought to be tossed out along with the bathwater.

When I was about 9 years old I would listen to the same cassette (yes, it was cassettes back then) over and over again. The cassettes (or tapes) were the soundtrack to American Grafitti. I can still remember repeating Love Potion No. 9 as one of my favourites. It was probably one of my favourites because it was also my age - 9. Quite frankly I didn't understand most of the music. The lyrics were absolutely foreign to me - literally. I had learned English only a couple of years earlier and most of it still made no sense. It was too adult for me, even though insanely ridiculous at the same time.

I suppose that's the problem (if it is a problem) with such music, it's too ridiculous. Yet for most people it brings back memories of sweetness and innocence. That's what does it for me. Plus it's kind of cute. So today I was in my room and put on Little Darlin' by The ??????. While it played I began to tap along to it. Soon my tapping was upgraded to a bit of swaying. Finally I just broke loose and did some dancing. The silly kind. A sort of jive dance. All the while I was, of course, singing at the top of my lungs. But mostly in a falsetto, a very fake voice, but equally as bad as the real one. I was just having fun. But then in one of my spins (or pirouttes) I saw that one of the guys from the dorm was standing at my door and watching me. Probably watching in horror.

Well, in response to my friends argument (which we never really concluded) I put these words down into my journal:

Our loves must not limit themselves to human angles or aspirations. In fact we must aspire more. We must aspire unto divine Love. Lewis suggests that all forms of love can be found in God and flow from God. Sometimes we consider certain loves inherently natural, that is of our human nature. In a ways, yes. Yet this nature, all of its goodness, comes from God as Creator. Therefore all our loves are included in this enterprise of learning to love as God loves. That means that our natural affections are now concerned with the well-being of another and not our own. Too often we silence ourselves in a pseudo-kindness that is but selfish cruelty. But it also affects our erotic love. Now, within a marriage, one must no longer seek for personal gratification but for the satisfaction of the beloved. Love, therefore, really just boils down to SELFLESSNESS. We see that in sublime proportions in Christ who sacrificed all of Himself to love us.