Locked in on this rainy afternoon, sick with cold, gave way to a quiet movie time. I popped open my laptop and started watching the latest Woody Allen movie – always a pleasure – ‘Midnight in Paris‘. I was as lost as Gil (Owen Wilson), trying to find his identity in the glitz and glamour of the golden era – according to him 1920’s. He becomes a part of this subtle time travel and ends up spending summer night parties with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and the likes. I am so overwhelmed and intimidated just to write these names, I could not imagine being confronted by them!
The movie got me thinking about a great classic that I read recently – The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. It was surprising to know that the author’s life itself was filled with bold, raw almost audacious shades of complexity. It was like connecting with the true intricacies and complexities of human nature. The characters in the book are quirky and morally gray. Maybe it’s just according to me that they were morally gray and I confess my derivations are definitely clouded by social implications. Leaving aside these, I probably would had thought the were not morally gray, in fact I might even have related to them on some level.
So why these social implications? What or who is this society? Now that I give it thought, I think society is just a majority of people among a certain group who think that a particular thing is right. While this is alright, it is unfair to automatically label the minority’s perception on that particular thing as wrong. They are most certainly not wrong, they are just different. The rules and regulations and barriers put by the society against inhumanity are completely agreeable, but against a particular morality not so much. The big names who revolutionize an era are usually outcasts or the one’s opposing the ideas promoted by the society and these are the individuals who display the true, wild and uninhibited side of human nature.
Every person has his/her own set of morals and those should be respected, whether society approves of them or not. I believe love is the driving emotion behind human behavior. I don’t just mean love towards your lover, I mean love just as an emotion. According to society what opposes or destroys love is infidelity. I am definitely not an advocate of infidelity. But I also think that infidelity can be misinterpreted. Falling in love with someone while you are in a relationship with someone else is not infidelity. Neither is staying in a relationship when you don’t love the other fidelity. Although going behind your lover’s back and committing to someone else is definitely infidelity. If you fall in love you should also have the courage to face anything that might oppose you. People who end up being infidel lack courage and I strongly believe people who lack courage are not unworthy, but incapable of love.
I come from a very conservative society where financial security, social status and the elder’s wishes dictate your marital commitment. If you decide to marry someone outside your caste, you will suddenly get a smack in your face and you will never know what hit you. Times have changed, so I most definitely be bullied into marrying a suitable match. However I will be emotionally blackmailed, pressurized and guilted into doing so. However, with great love comes great courage 🙂 And I will relentlessly fight to stand by my morals, my love and the co-author of this blog.
Related articles
- Infidelity (theevilicequeen.wordpress.com)
- The Shiller Duality (ritholtz.com)
- A Magical “Midnight in Paris” (imamovienerd.wordpress.com)
- So there are varying degrees of infidelity? (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
couple of cAmeraS 