The Postal Service series-Clark Gable

I was waiting for a cross-town train in the London underground

When it struck me

That I've been waiting since birth to find

A love that would look and sound

Like a movie

So I changed my plans

I rented a camera and a van

And then I called you

"I need you to pretend that we are in love again."

And you agreed to.

I want so badly to believe that there is truth,

that love is real.

And I want life in every word to the extent

That it's absurd.

I greased the lens and framed the shot using a friend

As my stand in

The script it called for rain

But it was clear that day

So we faked it

The marker snapped and I yelled

"Quiet on the set,"

Then called action!

And I kissed you in a style

Clark Gable would have admired

I thought it classic

I want so badly to believe that there is truth,

that love is real.

And I want life in every word to the extent

That it's absurd

I know you're wise beyond your years

But do you ever get the feel

That your perfect verse is just a lie

That you tell yourself to help you get by?

I've always thought that immediately, even from a young age, we're taught how to love. Love is in our children's books, the fairy tales, the TV shows, the pop songs, and the movies. As a child, we're shown the good side of love; the side that both starts and ends happy, romantic, and easy. We were all mislead as younger kids to believe that love had to happen in our lives, and that we wouldn't really be complete without it. In other words, we were all scammed!

Who is to say that one necessarily needs love, or a wife to be considered "successful?" I know plenty of people who are into their fortieth, maybe fiftieth year of their life and still single. None of those people have suddenly dropped off the face of the earth. In fact, none of them seem bothered by the fact that they are single at all. So does that mean it is possible that the attempt made to mold and shape our minds as kids was always just that; only a feeble attempt?

As humans, we are allowed to function without being joined at the hip, head-over heels in love with someone else. This song, a great one, illustrates the way in which we may, because of our too-easily shaped opinion of love, force things a bit. Instead of actually being in love, we may have actually created our love, and in the process, ironically, might be farther away from love than we would have been if we hadn't pressed the issue.

I'm trying to say that our "love" may be slightly fabricated without anyone even knowing it. At a certain point in our lives, we may have began doing things differently, or changing our plans, in order to seek out the love that we were taught to pursue. In reality, although I do believe that love is maybe the most powerful of all emotions, it's possible that our perfect love is nothing but a lie. It's possible that our relationships are all just as staged and edited as a Hollywood set.