The New Love

I've heard a lot of the current accepted trends in relationships. It's the modern guidelines to dating, they call it. The theme? Love is not enough. Funny enough this trend is not propagated by just single or newlyweds but by couples with decades of experience in the marriage institute. So, what ado about love and marriage and all the "in-betweens"? Is the statement correct? Or are we being slowly encouraged to put love in the back seat of a relationship? I am compelled to agree with the later. People are different and so are their opinions but I must say that asides from compatibility of a sexual kind and the absence of abuse, all other arguments against or undermining the importance or significance of love should be thrown out. What is the point of a relationship if not founded and built on love? Most people propagating the "love is not enough" campaign quickly jump and say things like, money, career and all other things and I agree with them to some extent that they are needed in a relationship but not at the expense of love. Love can become enough when all these things are in place but if they are in place and love is absent, what becomes of it? Is it enough to be comfortable and lonely? Many would argue that they would rather cry in a limo than on a bicycle. Who wouldn't? At some point however, love would be all that matters. At that point love would be enough.
I however would like to remind everyone out there that as much as the theme of marriage is love and family and togetherness, it is not a bed of roses. It also comes with a "for better for worse" clause. This clause is one most people like to split. They would gladly take the "for better" part and do away with the "for worse part". When the going is good and your partner is performing all his or her duties and the world is sweet and you can't think of anything better than where you are, love would seem to be enough  or should I say comfort is enough because that is what most modern relationships crave, the kind of comfort that money can buy. When the chips are down and time gets harder and everything you hoped for starts crumbling down, the career, security and money all disappears, what then? When times get harder than either of you anticipated, that is when love is tested. Marriage is not a sign of love now-a-days and that is a sad trend. People marry conveniences and fill comfortable preaching "love is not enough", well I can guarantee that no matter how much money or success your career or job gives you, it will never be enough. Humans always want more and that is a given, but when we are faced with the tough times, we become aware that the person you got married to out of convenience also married you out of convenience and devoid of that convenience, there is no way that selfishness wont creep in and destroy what you once called beautiful (convenience or comfort is what I call it).
Love may not be enough but what else is? What else can replace love?
I wont say love is enough rather I would say "love is all that matters".

Karma this. Karma that.

Karma, I've heard lots about you. How you go round giving people what they deserve? Well, I guess you are kind of partial or I just don't get what your role is in the grand scheme of things.
Who does karma work for? The highest bidder? The most outrageous situations? God? One thing is sure, karma doesn't work for me. Not that I'm in the business of revenge or reward for the loyal, but karma doesn't seem to have a code of conduct. It seems karma doesn't exist in real life, only in movies where the bad guy gets his due at the eventuality of the movies end or in stories where the author controls the fate of each character by his own moral code. In real life, being good or honest or fair doesnt mean you will be visited with kindness and love and justice. No! What actually happens is that the rest of the world uses you and your goodness as a foot mat and no one will remember to say "thank you". In real life, the "bad guys" get away with whatever they do. Just because you are good doesn't mean anyone will be good to you. Just because you are honest doesnt mean those around you will be honest to you. And while you are hoping good will triumph in this world and karma will be faster in carrying out her duties of serving out justice, evil still thrives and well, karma is probably in a shopping mall buying the latest hand bags and accessories to keep up with the trend. This is really sickening and rather depressing, and yet the larger population benefits from karmas benevolence and reluctance to deliver justice to all. The larger population is not divided into good vs evil or predators vs prey. Everyone is a victim, no one is good or evil. It's easy to judge people based on their actions but karma doesn't work that way. It's deeper, it's not even by the ratio of good deeds to evil deeds. But like the ying-yan will describe the human person, its a mixture of good in evil and evil in good. Nobody holy pass. So get off that high horse and know that you too would be on the recipients list of karmas wrath if karma were to operate by human rules or ideas. Eventually, we hope everyone gets what they deserve, but then again what would be the point of mercy, second chances and humanity.