Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Run Mad as often as You Choose...

...but do not faint!

OK, maybe that's not the exact quote. I'm not near my copy of Mansfield Park, but I love, love, love that thought. What's an all-alone feminist supposed to do on Valentine's Day, besides curl up with a good book and a glass of wine? I could whine, but even I'm tired of that. Instead, I keep coming back to Austen/Fanny Price's thought. Isn't this what we want for the people we love -to have them be strong, joyful, and fully alive? I could wrap my brain around a day that celebrates THAT!

So, yeah, I like flowers and chocolates and dinners out and long gazes over glasses of wine. I like those things a LOT. But what I like even more than that is the idea that loving someone -not just eros-love, but agape-love and all the other kinds, too- means knowing someone, really seeing them, and celebrating who they are. Let people flower in relationships.

So, dear ones.... run mad and do not faint. And here are some flowers:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least according to the online version at The Republic of Pemberley, neither of those phrases appears in Mansfield Park. However, IMDB lists it as a "memorable quote" from the movie, so perhaps it was something that was added in as part of the screenplay?

Andrea Rusin said...

You're right. It's actually in love and Friendship -commandeered for the movie.