sacrifice / guilt

today in class we discussed the notion of giving. do we give out of the purity of love or the easing of guilt? we looked at the main character and how she had given up the best years of her youth to take care of her father, regarding the motives of doing it out of unconditional love or a sense of duty.

this made me think about the human capacity to love. i told them that as a mother, we would love our children instinctively, such that sacrifice is a given. but the reverse may not always apply because children may not feel that innate depth of loving their parents, no matter how deeply the relationship is forged.

as for sacrificing for someone completely unrelated, it may take a whole dimension of love which can only be divinely endowed, because humanity is intuitively selfish and incapable of absolute sacrifice. often we perform our acts of love to alleviate the guilt of letting down our partners' expectations, and that is sadly a form of selfishness in itself. i guess the ultimate litmus test of unconditional love is how, as i suggested, when you throw yourself instinctively before a moving truck to save your partner from certain death. that sort of love is never considered but an inexplicable act of divine sacrifice.

haha the things we discuss. it's no wonder i come out of classes often drained.