“Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I’m yours.”
These are the words that Blair Waldorf told Chuck Bass in order to keep her in his life. It took him forever to tell this woman that he loved her. It took viewers two seasons before this finally happened and longer before he showed it. The wait was painful, but so worth it. If we can enjoy fictional characters waiting to say those three words, then why do we try to rush it in our personal lives?
In an age of instant gratification, we all struggle with the “I want it now” syndrome. We always have to have the latest iPhone or the newest album that dropped at midnight. We thrive on likes of our photos and retweets from celebrities. If our social media posts don’t receive the accolades that we had intended, we can simply delete them and try again until they are noticed. We want what we want now. In an impatient generation, love is just another thing that we don’t want to wait for.
Saying “I love you” has lost the meaning behind it. We often say it so casually that it’s often dismissed or we say it to our significant other that we’ve only been dating a week because “it is the real thing.” Do you know any middle schoolers or high schoolers? Do you follow them on social media? I have a friend that has been in community theatre with me and she is always posting pictures of her newest boyfriend where I witness comments such as “I love you babe. You’re the greatest part of my life.” Three weeks later, there is another guy in the picture. We think that we understand love, but the truth is that we probably don’t.
We say those three words too soon because we are scared of what might happen if we don’t say them. Everything is temporary and we want to hold on to each moment and tie it tight with an “I love you.” Some people misuse the power of those words in order to get what we want from someone else. Love is not something that should be rushed into. It is about partnership, equality, and trust. Those things take time to build. Mr. Darcy didn’t rush into saying “I love you” to Elizabeth after just meeting her, did he? And even after he told her, he showed her time and time again to prove to her that he did love her.
I must confess that I am guilty of this offense. I have rushed the words without fully understanding what I was saying. Instead of waiting for love, I tried to force it and it failed. I realized later that every relationship is different and trying to have the same relationship as someone else was pointless. Everyone is unique and so is every relationship.
Whether it is sex or just another person to tie ourselves to, instant gratification has become almost toxic to our relationships. Though we rush into saying it, love is stronger when it is shown than when it is just said. Love will come in its own time and when that moment comes for those "three words, eight letters" to be said, you will know and you will say it without hesitation.