On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, Mouse wrote:

Mouse, you're gonna get two copies of this...sorry 'bout that.

@>
@>On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, James Nutley wrote:
@>
@>> >   Love is not doing one's duty and doing what one likes after that; it 
@>> >is complete selflessness, the complete purging from oneself of all desire 
@>> >contrary to the interest of the beloved and the relationship with the 
@>> >beloved. Your Ranma does not love Akane at all.
@>
@>> Dang!  I'm a big OMG, Belldandy and Keiichi fan, and I'm in favor of 
@>> THIS definition of Love!  The "complete purging" stuff makes me think of 
@>> the recent revenge fic where the author (of that fic) ended up the 
@>> "brainless wifebot" of an enhanced Kasumi.
@>
@>I've never been in love, and even I know that love can mean different 
@>things to different people.  Some would call that "purging oneself" 
@>definition love.  I would take pity on such people.  If I were ever to 
@>love someone (yeah right) I would want them to love me back, but I would 
@>*never* want them to give up themselves for me.  There is such a thing 
@>as asking too much.  I don't know where to draw the line, but I can see 
@>plainly that this is beyond it, IMOHO.
@>

Frankly, if/when you find someone, and you *really* love them, and they
really love you back, there isn't any asking going on. There isn't even
any assuming that they've/you've given yourself completely over.
I'm reminded of a quick story that I'll relate to you all...

There's a building.
And into this building walks a man.
And he is not a happy man. 
And this man that is not happy carries two semi-automatic machine guns, as
is his american constitutional right.
And this unhappy man, who is excercising his constitutional rights, is so
unhappy that he opens fire on a floor full of innocent people.
Enter two co-workers.
They are going to lunch at this hour, which seems appropriate.
And these co-workers are quite obviously in love. They've been married for
just over 8 months, in fact.
The husband shields his wife from the unhappy man's bullets.
And the husband dies in in wife's arms.
And he manages to speak before he goes.
And the last thing she hears from him is, "I love you."

This is not a happy story. What makes it worse, is that this is a true
story. I saw the woman being interviewed, and I thought it was the saddest
thing. But that's true love. Obviously, the man was not happy to die. Very
few people ever are. But I'm sure he was happy that he could save his
wife's life.
I'll prolly remember this story forever. Of course, I wrote it out in a
rather odd way. But that's me for ya. :D

Jan Sacharuk, who knows.

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