Love is dumb.
There. I’ve said it. Surely we have better things to do, like look after ourselves and our own. Makes me kind of wish we were like cats, or lions or something, you know: had babies, grew them up, killed animals, ate them, made babies, moved on, died. You don’t see cats getting all emotional because they wanted to share their kibble with the neighbour’s cat and the neighbour’s cat said no. You don’t see cats caring about much at all, actually.
Some people are like that. We can all, if the truth be told, be like that. We’re all selfish, demanding creatures who love salty food and warm beds and someone who shares the couch and lets us do our own things. It’s considered normal, and considered The Way Things Are.
That’s the way it was for me, really. Until some crazy lady did a Rachel Stewart number on me, and helped me when I’d fallen over in the middle of the race.
Rachel Who?
I don’t know if Rachel Stewart remembers the grade five athletics carnival. I don’t know if the friend she stopped for just before the end of the 100m sprint to help back to her feet again remembers the grade five athletics carnival either, but I do know that those two women, nearly thirty years later, are still friends. She stopped. Rachel Stewart was our fastest runner, and she stopped before the end to help her friend that was down. That’s love. That’s when you know that Rachel Stewart knew what meant more than some poxy ribbon on a pin.
That’s what love is.
She didn’t need to. Nobody needs to do a Rachel. In fact, Rachel Stewart didn’t need to do a Rachel, and when she did it it was Dumb dumb de dumb dumb, and she lost the race.
And once upon a time that crazy woman who did a Rachel on me knew what it meant as well. I drove her crazy. A few times. I probably put her through hell and back a few times as well, and I even did the famous SDCU* on her and decided that I’d stuffed things up so badly I could never ever love anybody again.
We do that. We all do that. We turn to our Rachel Stewarts and give them the finger and then we beat them in the next race and not think about it till it’s too late and we can only hope to God they might forgive us, and then we swear we’re never ever going to race again, poxy ribbon or no.
Tell you what, I’m glad that once upon a time God did a Rachel Stewart number on me. He did all right. And that’s the only reason I’m back lining up for the race at the moment.I’m back there on the old New Norfolk oval staring down the white lines on the grass and eyeing off the sports teacher holding the ribbon, and just a bit worried that that starter gun is a real one.
I’m going to run.
I’m looking at the people who are racing with me. None of us are that great, or that pretty, or that cool any more. And none of us are ever going to make the Olympics.
but together we’re running this race we call life, and this time I know, because I will always remember the ones who stopped for me, that no matter which one of us falls, I’M gonna be the one this time to stop and do a Rachel.
Care to join me?
*Super-dooper cock-up. See the last blog post.
Megan Sayer 
This is awesome. A little compassion, a little kibble sharing and a bit of perspective never hurt anyone. I loved this post: we all have and need our Rachels.
Congrats on the FP!
iRuniBreathe
Thank you. Yeah, the FP has been enormous. Wow! Thanks for reading.
the most important part of anything you do is to become a participant in anything let alone a compitition of ank kind. i know you will find this to be true of any sporting event: it is not important who wins or who loses; it’s all in which the manner you carry yourself that determines the winning spirit.
ce ce dae wu
But I’ve loved pizza for as long as I can remember…
And I bet if you saw pizza lying forlorn on the side of the road you’d help it up, too 🙂 LOL
very often we do not appreciate the people enough who do “rachels” to us – on the other hand we are nice to people who treat us like sh** – we should try to change that, don’t you think so?
what a post! thank you! amazing!
That is so true. More people need to be aware of that thought process.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reading.
There is kind of awakening on earth. And I absolutely agree: Self-Awareness is an urgent issue. So far it has been kept by monks, philosophers & co. Spirit in terms of the universe within ourselves and thus, LOVE as celebration of “being existent” can bring us closer to what we are made of: God, the eternal light, or love in itself. Then we no longer will see love in a gender way that emphasizes any difference. Yes, we can change that – if we open up our hearts, and so we are no longer anonymous and strangers to ourselves. This way we will find that love is everwhere and we are the ones to find it by finding ourselves as echo of pure love. Could make an evolutional change 🙂
You are so right, and we shoud change this pattern.
This is lovely, lovely, lovely. Thank you…
Thank YOU for reading and for responding! Glad you liked it.
Loved it!
Thank you!
Truth is the most powerful force in the universe! Love is not dumb; it is not a being. Granted, those that have some exponentials of love in there lives struggle with the emotion and the whole concept of grasping such a truth can be a painful experience. Love in its perfection is probably a wonderous feeling, but who on Earth is perfect? On second thought, is there such a thing as being perfectly imperfect? I can go on, but this is not my blog. Love is a truth. Face the truth and struggle like all other intelligence.
Some deep thoughts going on here, and I’m sorry I haven’t got the brain-space to respond deeper right now. I love what you say about truth being the most powerful force in the universe – I believe we spend too much time being “nice” to each other and ignoring exactly that – the need to speak the truth in love. I could go on, too, but I haven’t even had my breakfast yet…thanks for replying : )
Hahahaha… When I started reading your blog, I thought to myself “thank goodness i’m not the only hopeless one”, I just need to be hopeful as you though, i totally suck with this whole love thing but then I guess there is hope for the hopeless right?…
Awesome one 🙂
That’s it! There SO is hope for the hopeless! This is why we have people like Rachel in the world I guess, to remind us how we’re MEANT to be doing it. Love is actually really hard – real love. It is, however, amazingly and overwhelmingly worth it. Go for it!
Loved it! Amazing!
Thanks! Thanks for taking the time to respond.
lovely, insightful post
thank you so much : )
100% beautiful. 🙂
Thank you . And love that cat : )
🙂 Tx. I just hope I’ll spot the opportunity to be a Rachel, when it comes along.
This is awesome! I love seeing some solid Biblical truth on the FP!!! Blessings on you!
Thanks Anita! I love being able to find ways to present the truth of God to people that may not listen otherwise as well. It’s been a joy reading so many comments on this. Bless you back, thanks for commenting 🙂
Your writing really flows and I find it entertaining to read thanks for such an interesting post
Glad you enjoyed it Stacey, thank you!
I love this. It is a very refreshing post 🙂
http://stepstochangetheworld.wordpress.com/
thank you.
lol. i love you it!!! cool post!! 😀
Beautifully written. Hilarious, inspiring, and relate-able.
“and not think about it till it’s too late and we can only hope to God they might forgive us, and then we swear we’re never ever going to race again, poxy ribbon or no.” that right there is your flawed logic, at least in my life. I don’t stop racing (loving), I just never do what messed it up so bad again. At least I never do it to the degree I did it the time before, and then eventually it stops happening. Good luck in the race!
Reblogged this on Mangoes and commented:
This Lady really does have the right idea, good reading!
I’d share my kibble with you. If I was a kibble eating person, that is. Nice post, hun!
Very interesting way to get people to listen to the truth but I have to take umbrage with you regarding the cat (I am not oh so offended by it but I like the word umbrage but in any case, I do disagree). I think you do not know too many cats or have not had the occasion to befriend one or live with one. A cat may not be a dog but there is mopre to the cat than meets the eye. Thank you for your wonderful piece – keep up the good work.
Quite an interesting way to make a point – and a true one at that. But I have to take umbrage at your comment regarding cats. It seems to me that you have not had the occasion to meet so many cats, or live with them or even to befriend one. It is true that cats are not dogs but there is a lot more to cats than meets the eye!!!
Thank you so much for a fine piece of writing and keep up the good work.
Love it. So glad God pulled a Rachel.
yeah me too! : ) Thanks.
Well said.
Reblogged this on Photography Re-Blogger and commented:
A must read… not photography, But a good checkup from the neck up 😉
This has really inspired me and made me think about the people who act like “rachels” to me and I feel so unappreciative of them now. Very eye opening and well done xx 🙂
Thanks. Yeah it’s horrible for me to realise how little I’ve appreciated some people in the past. But we’re human, the best we can do is pay it forward. All the best.
One thing I want to say is that this really inspired me I almost thought different of you when I read this blog. Thank you for writing this. You are also welcome to visit my blog any other time you want to.
http://www.notasfromthesala.wordpress.com
Thank you. I’d love to check out your blog sometime. All the best.
My wife must go on the assumption that I am like a wild animal living in a cave. She tells visiting relatives not to expect a whole lot of attention from me. But yeah, there have been ocassions where I dared to sacrifice the blue ribbon for someone else’s good. I love this post. It written from a unique angle on the subject of relationships and our live with other people in general. Thanks for sharing it.
Hehehe! Good on you for making the sacrifice 🙂 And thanks for reading.
This made me smile…thanks and let hope we all can pull be that person for someone else in our lives.
That’s it. Sometimes we just need the reminder that we need to. Well, at least I do.
Great post. It’s interesting–we are brought up to be practical creatures, but we soon learn that life–including love– is full of impracticalities.
Oh love is completely impractical, and often completely ridiculous. But isn’t it the way that the people that get that and embrace it are the people that make our lives so much richer? Or maybe I’m just saying that coz I’m a bit of a let-down in the practicality department 🙂
That’s so sweet. It’s rare to find someone willing to go out of their way to help someone when they can gain something else, like say a medal for winning a race. You have a good friend.
Yeah, it’s too rare. Hopefully the more we do it to others the more we can inspire others to pass it on, too. Bless you.
When did I sneeze?
Not just a like but a true LOVE!
Truth……….
Brilliant.
Life is often in these moments, where we make these choices of other over self. Rachel lost nothing in stopping, rather, she gained herself at her best, a life-time friend and all our admiration. Rachel is a winner and so are you for seeing the gift of that moment. Loved ur blog.
Would love you to visit my new site if you have the time….mindfulness4now….thankyou Leanne
You’ve summed it up well Leanne, thanks for reading. And yes, I’d love to check out your blog some time.
Many thanks for Your “race” 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂
What a beautiful post!! Loved it 🙂
Thks
I wouldn’t say love is dumb. It’s is one of the 10 mind stimuli…..Love creates energy that help us rise above the horizon of ordinary thought. http://brianandrekirton.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/the-10-mind-stimuli/
I don’t think her intention was that love was stupid. You are reading in between the lines.
I am 89,and this simple tale gave me a great boost,love to you all Les
So pleased to hear that, thanks Les.
Loving others is not stupid.
Sometimes we might reach that point of that feeling when we did not get appreciation from others whom we did a lot for them.
Just be yourself .U will be blessed by god.
Loving others is not stupid.
Sometimes we might reach that point of that feeling when we did not get appreciation from others whom we did a lot for them.
Just be yourself .U will be blessed by god
Wise words. And yes, I agree. Although sacrificing yourself for others (which is the basis of love) does feel stupid sometimes, even though it’s the most powerful thing we can ever do. Bless you.
‘Love’ is hard at times, and of course how we define it makes a world of difference to our meaning. Good quote from a book; “If you can’t live people, try to like them. If you can’t like them, then simple kind-heartedness is easy enough”. Nice post, thanks.
Yeah it does depend on how you define it. I go by the biblical definition of patient, kind, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, keeping no record of wrongs etc. Which, ironically, can also be summed up as “simple kindheartedness” but with actions. Thanks for reading.
Reblogged this on Uma garota em devaneios..
Hmmmm 😀 love is SOMETIMES dumb. haha. yah yer telling the truth
Check my blog out if yo have time! 🙂
Great post! the whole concept is amazing.
Love is more painful than infatuation, and much more painful than interest or obsession. But it’s that good kinda pain, right?
Ive been that Rachel Stewart… ive had a woman just swing her middle finger on me and walk away….you made me realize that maybe, its time for me to get my own Rachel now… good post! :)))
Brilliant and insightful. Thank you for sharing this, I genuinely hope I meet my own Rachel who will help me up and get my to the finish line. I want to start a new race.
I guess this might just turn around my believe that we only get what we give. As this whole doing a Rachel things might prove it’s the other way around as we only give what we get? Which is by no means supposed to be offending to anyone. It’s just human I guess.
Great post, liked the wording, great lesson. Very well done!
Beautiful