Sad attempt at American romance

[peacetraveler22]

There's a common sentiment among American women - romance and chivalry - both are dead! Buried many years ago, along with many dating customs of the past where men and women were forced to actually communicate with each other via spoken words and gestures, not through FB or text messages.

I don't consider myself a demanding female, but I don't like this modern form of "romance," where after a meeting a man will text something like - "Gr8 date." This is just a massive pet peeve of mine. If someone can't take the time to type two extra letters and form the word "Great" rather than using the letter "8", it somehow rubs me the wrong way. I know it's a very small thing, but we all have negative triggers in the opposite sex, and this is one of mine. :) I like words. Good ones are like vitamins for me, and I write a lot of them here in this blog, as you know.

In San Antonio, I came across this tragic scene. This is an American attempt at the famous love locks you see hanging all over European and Russian bridges. I rarely see them in the U.S., and what a negative reaction this stirred in me! No creativity or artistry with the locks. In fact, they look like chains, and being enslaved is not my idea of love. So, Russians and Europeans - you are far superior to Americans when it comes to creativity with these locks. Let's take a look at photographic evidence to support my thesis. :)

1. One of my favorite spots in Moscow - the Bridge of Kisses. Beautiful in the dead of winter, with huge ice blocks covering the river, snowy landscapes, and glowing brides in their white furs being carried up the steps by adoring grooms. Somehow the colorful locks are stunning contrasts to the expressionless, grey sky that often looms over Moscow during this season. Here the most precious moments in life are on display for all to see - a snapshot in time where two people are in complete peace and harmony. I would hope that wedding days embody these emotions for most people. I can't say, because I've never been married and don't envision it for me at anytime in the future.



2.  I'm quite traditional with dating, and am more aligned with the old school thinking that anything worthwhile takes time, nurturing and a lot patience to grow. That's why I really like the symbolism of the tree for the hanging locks in Moscow.



3. Novgorod, Russia. Small messages are written on a lot of these locks, and I always look at them and wonder what happened to the people? Were they teenage lovers who have long since parted ways, did the relationship turn sour?, are they married, divorced...? The present day situation of these human relations is irrelevant - the locks remain forever, unless someone takes the time to cut them off after a break-up, and I doubt many people do.




4. In the city of brides - Ivanovo, Russia. March 2015. Simple and elegant, with some slight rustic charm thrown in. :) I recently read an article that Paris is now burdened by all of the locks hanging from bridges, and officials issued the harsh statement that "these romantic gestures cause long-term heritage degradation and danger to visitors." It sounds very dramatic, yet Parisian authorities began cutting many locks off the bridges in February, after one of them collapsed due to the weight of the love symbols. Many couples were concerned about what would happen to the locks after they were removed, and Parisian authorities proposed some type of art auction...it's a strange idea in my view.



In Berlin, you can now be fined for putting a love lock on a bridge. The strict measures were implemented after rust began forming on many structures. I'm ambivalent about these love locks, and really don't view them as romantic. There's something scary about the concept of being "locked" or "chained," it's like the kiss of death for a free spirit like me. :) When I visit cities around the globe, I find romance in ferris wheels. I love them! You can view things from a different angle, while simultaneously being nestled in a tiny, private space with a man. For a brief moment you stop at the top, at the apex of the circle, and it feels as if you're floating above all the worries and chaos below...in your own tiny bubble, sheltered from everything but each other.

5. Abandoned ferris wheel in Portland, Maine. December 2012.



6. And my favorite of all the wheels I've visited around the world - the Millennium Wheel in London, at sunset. Yep, pure romance for me. :))



How do you feel about these love locks? I fear romance is really dead in today's dating world, and I can't understand modern relationships. Yet I still have hope that romance lives in some people. That it occasionally manifests itself in the exact moment a person needs it, in a way only a lover who knows you intimately on the inside can understand that the particular act will be meaningful and uplifting only to you, yet exactly what you need at that precise moment in time...

Comments

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

Good. I could disappear for a couple of weeks and i wouldn't want to remain your blog without sex-support. Moreover, our Uncle Tom - mr. Qi and nazi Onkel lad are rather fuming than lighting today. It is unacceptable that things in the part of sex were also so bad as things in the part of fascism, and payed collaborationism.

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Mr. Qi is mainly interested in discussing Russia and meditation, not sex. He thinks only about "restoring Russia," likes to look at pretty girls (but doesn't really think they have "ideas" or value besides being domestic). In general, he is a cold, emotionless person. I've said the same to him, so I will write it here also. We cannot understand each other's personalities, but he's a nice enough guy, and provides good historical insight into Russia and other matters. I have interesting discussions with him. In the blog, and sometimes on FB. However, I don't know what "restoring Russia" even means??

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

Why do you ask? The United States is an empire too, as well as Russia. But Russia is a dying empire while the US is a mature empire. And all those troubles, misery and death that have been arranged in the Ukraine by Russia are only one-tenth of those troubles which the US arranged, for example, in Iraq.
Every citizen of the United States knows that the "restoring Russia" means by the example of own country. This means that you are sitting safe in front of TV and enjoy the imperial power of own country, while the boys from poor families as soldiers "establish order" in other countries.

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I do not sit safely in front of my TV...and, yes, I enjoy my country and the opportunities it provides me. And I don't feel guilty about this. What can save Russia from becoming a "dying empire" in your view? Nothing?

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

Of course you "don't feel guilty about this", this is a typical case. And Mr. Qi "don't feel guilty about this" too. Empire is the enemy of the people. Only brainwashing makes people loving empire. Usually people, if their brain is not damaged, do not burn with love to those who provide services for money to them.

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Now Mr. Qi is now in my San Antonio post arguing about the pro-Nazi Ukrainian government...

Re: Крепко жму вашу натруженную руку:)

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

And Russians and Ukrainians are the same poor children of the Soviet Union:(