COLUMN: Spidey loves too much, should take a day off
There are few things as hard to define as love.
In the spirit of Valentine's Day over the weekend, I was discussing the topic with my 5-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister. They had drastically different answers.
Colin responded with something along the lines of, "I don't know, 'X-Men' is on. Peter Parker loves Mary Jane." Sydney, on the other hand, responded with, "Sydney Hoffman."
While they are both young and naive, children have a very clear, unbiased way of looking at the world. Most kids see things as they are. They don't look at something or someone and judge it, and both my younger siblings see love in different ways.
My brother sees Spider-Man's love for Mary Jane as clear and obvious, and boy, is he right. Parker would do anything in the world for Mary Jane. He would fight a Rhino, Green Goblin and even a man named Dr. Octopus. That is romantic love at its best.
Forget "Romeo and Juliet," I'll take Peter Parker and Mary Jane.
Romantic love tends to be a gooey and sticky membrane that we all must work our way through at one point or another. But those two seem to work through their problems better than most.
I wish I was bitten by a radioactive spider.
And I know I may be over-analyzing this, but my sister's response was equally as true. "Sydney Hoffman." To her, she is love. And just like our brother, she's right. Sometimes it's good to be selfish.
Taking care of one's self is important, my sister knows this. What she doesn't know is that there is a balance that must be achieved between being selfish and taking care of other people.
Everything in life has a balance. You can only put so many jalapeños into a pot of chili before all you can taste are the peppers. For Parker, he is constantly having to do things for MJ — save her from some super villain usually.
And while they have love for each other in a way I wish I knew, Parker needs to take a day off. Sometimes, you gotta just take some time to kick back and have a beer on the couch.
