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The man who killed my father is the greatest man I know.
Though these words damn me in the eyes of the people around me, I know that they are true. It was he who taught me to be the man who I am now. It was he who made me who I am today. It was he who taught me what it is to love.
I want to explain him to everyone, and to do this, only his words can help. Only his words will do. He was his own man, as I am my own man. We both have our flaws, and both have our virtues. I want everyone to know him as I knew him, but alas, it can not be so, for he is gone now. And he has been vilified so much that I fear nothing I can say can purge him of this affront.
This is how he described love to me, and this I must tell, for it may not change the masses' view of him, but it will certainly shed light on a man too often wrongly placed in darkness.
* * * * * *
Danyll, listen well. This is the only time I will explain this to you. This is the only time I will tell this to you.
"I love you" is an empty husk. Those words are nothing but hollow sounds. They mean nothing, no matter what language you say them in. The sentiment may be well meant, but the words mean nothing.
Action is the only truth. To say "I love you" is to say nothing. As well you should say "I hate you". They mean the same thing, after all. Both mean merely "I put great value in you". But in acting on those words, in proving what value they hold, there is love.
If I say "I love you", you may trust me and accept it. But what value does that have? Trust, perhaps that I will not lie about such a thing. And trust is important. But better still than accepting that I care because of the words I say is accepting the actions I make. I could give you an apple, and you would see that it is a good, ripe apple and thank me accordingly. If it was in my power, and I gave you an entire orchard of rich land and ripe fruit, you would again see it as good, and accept it as such. But these are mere things. Gifts to show the value I hold in you. They show that I value you.
But I may as well gift those to an enemy, that our relations would be better. If they are mine to give freely, even if it may hurt me financially, then they may not have as much value to me as they do to you. Better still that I teach you how to get your own orchard, to find your own seeds, plant your own land, cultivate it, and bring it to maturity. Then, too, do you have an orchard. But then, too, do you have more: the satisfaction of knowing it is your own.
Love is not pretty words or pretty gifts. Love is action on the idea that you value a person so much that they are worth your own life. If they are hurt, so are you, even if the wounds do not show on you. If they are sick, you are there to cure them, to nurse them back to health. When they are dying, so, too, is a part of you.
If I say "I love you", I mean that you are valuable to me. But if you are in trouble, these words mean nothing. When I protect you from those who wish you harm, I do not need to say that I love you. You already know in your heart that it is true.
But I will not always be there, so I will teach you how to protect yourself. Then, even when I am not nearby, I will be helping to keep you safe. That, too, is love.
Love is protecting that which you hold dear, even if that hurts you in the process. Even if you have to hurt that which you hold dear. There is no growth without pain, Danyll. Know that that is true. When a mother is carrying a child in her womb, there is much pain. And there is more still during childbirth. The mother hurts, but the child grows and she is glad for the pain. She sees that without her pain, this little creature would have died, and she would not like that. And when the child is older, mother will tell her son not to touch the fire. If the child does not listen, he will be hurt, so mother will stop him. But eventually, she must let him get burned, so that he understands not to do this thing again. if he is hurt while she is nearby, he will not need to fear being too badly hurt, for his mother will not let it hurt him too much. But the pain will teach him not to repeat his mistake. His mother will not have to remind him so often to be careful around the fire, and that may well one day save his life.
There is also a danger in protecting too much. To shelter too much is to create a son who will grow into a worthless man. So mother lets him get hurt a little, that he will understand pain and will learn to avoid it when he can. This, too, teaches him what it is to love. He needs no explanation that his mother loves him: he has seen it with his own eyes. If she did not love him, she would not warn him. She may keep it away from him, but unless he sees the flames, understands that they are dangerous, then he will eventually find them. And the burns would be much worse.
If I say "I love you", it means that I am reminding myself of it. I say it as much for myself as I do for you. If I need such a reminder, then so might you. And if you need to be reminded that I love you, perhaps I do not love you as much as I say.
But if I show you that I love you, if I come to your aid when needed, then you need no reminder that I care. You see it with your own eyes and know it for the truth. When I give you my time, you have a part of my life that is yours as much as mine. What a beautiful thing that is. A moment shared that we two may remember for ever and ever.
Love is living with each other when we are needed. It is sharing the pain and sorrow. It is dancing together at the joys. Love is knowing that when you laugh, I laugh with you, and when you cry, so, too, do I. Words do little to explain what can so well be explained with a simple embrace.
If I say "I love you", what can that possibly explain. But when I give you advice, even hard advice, you know I want you to succeed.Sometimes the best things to say hurt. Sometimes "I love you" sounds a lot like "No".
But if I truly love you, I will guide you away from those things I know you will not like. I will pull you away from the mistakes I may have made, as a mother pulls her son from the fire. If I train you with sword, I will show you where not to hold your sword, even as I show you where to keep it, so that the only blade that may strike you is my own, and that the flat of the blade, that the pain is small and not damaging. So, too, if I train you with foods. I will show you all there is to eat, and tell you what not to eat. If you eat this plant, you will enjoy yourself, and it will taste good. But if you eat that one, then there will be pain as its poison runs its course through your body. So I say, "Eat this plant, but do not eat that one." Then you know that I love you, because though I may hurt you a little, I will not hurt you when I can avoid doing so.
Love is saving you from yourself when you decide to travel down the wrong path. If I see the cliff as you are to step off, I will tell you not to continue. I may even force you away from the cliff. You may resent being pushed, but better you resent me for the moments before you realize how close you were to falling, than when you resent me when you learn after the fall that I saw what was about to happen and did nothing. There are times when I must let you fall, but there are more times when I must save you the fall. For most falls have little but pain at their end.
If I say "I love you", Danyll, know that it is true. But do not know it because I said it. Know it because I have shown you that love a hundred times a day. Know it because you have seen the truth of it with those eyes of yours.
Know that I love you simply because I do love you.

Description

The man who killed my father is the greatest man I know.
Though these words damn me in the eyes of the people around me, I know that they are true. It was he who taught me to be the man who I am now. It was he who made me who I am today. It was he who taught me what it is to love.
I want to explain him to everyone, and to do this, only his words can help. Only his words will do. He was his own man, as I am my own man. We both have our flaws, and both have our virtues. I want everyone to know him as I knew him, but alas, it can not be so, for he is gone now. And he has been vilified so much that I fear nothing I can say can purge him of this affront.
This is how he described love to me, and this I must tell, for it may not change the masses' view of him, but it will certainly shed light on a man too often wrongly placed in darkness.
* * * * * *
Danyll, listen well. This is the only time I will explain this to you. This is the only time I will tell this to you.
"I love you" is an empty husk. Those words are nothing but hollow sounds. They mean nothing, no matter what language you say them in. The sentiment may be well meant, but the words mean nothing.
Action is the only truth. To say "I love you" is to say nothing. As well you should say "I hate you". They mean the same thing, after all. Both mean merely "I put great value in you". But in acting on those words, in proving what value they hold, there is love.
If I say "I love you", you may trust me and accept it. But what value does that have? Trust, perhaps that I will not lie about such a thing. And trust is important. But better still than accepting that I care because of the words I say is accepting the actions I make. I could give you an apple, and you would see that it is a good, ripe apple and thank me accordingly. If it was in my power, and I gave you an entire orchard of rich land and ripe fruit, you would again see it as good, and accept it as such. But these are mere things. Gifts to show the value I hold in you. They show that I value you.
But I may as well gift those to an enemy, that our relations would be better. If they are mine to give freely, even if it may hurt me financially, then they may not have as much value to me as they do to you. Better still that I teach you how to get your own orchard, to find your own seeds, plant your own land, cultivate it, and bring it to maturity. Then, too, do you have an orchard. But then, too, do you have more: the satisfaction of knowing it is your own.
Love is not pretty words or pretty gifts. Love is action on the idea that you value a person so much that they are worth your own life. If they are hurt, so are you, even if the wounds do not show on you. If they are sick, you are there to cure them, to nurse them back to health. When they are dying, so, too, is a part of you.
If I say "I love you", I mean that you are valuable to me. But if you are in trouble, these words mean nothing. When I protect you from those who wish you harm, I do not need to say that I love you. You already know in your heart that it is true.
But I will not always be there, so I will teach you how to protect yourself. Then, even when I am not nearby, I will be helping to keep you safe. That, too, is love.
Love is protecting that which you hold dear, even if that hurts you in the process. Even if you have to hurt that which you hold dear. There is no growth without pain, Danyll. Know that that is true. When a mother is carrying a child in her womb, there is much pain. And there is more still during childbirth. The mother hurts, but the child grows and she is glad for the pain. She sees that without her pain, this little creature would have died, and she would not like that. And when the child is older, mother will tell her son not to touch the fire. If the child does not listen, he will be hurt, so mother will stop him. But eventually, she must let him get burned, so that he understands not to do this thing again. if he is hurt while she is nearby, he will not need to fear being too badly hurt, for his mother will not let it hurt him too much. But the pain will teach him not to repeat his mistake. His mother will not have to remind him so often to be careful around the fire, and that may well one day save his life.
There is also a danger in protecting too much. To shelter too much is to create a son who will grow into a worthless man. So mother lets him get hurt a little, that he will understand pain and will learn to avoid it when he can. This, too, teaches him what it is to love. He needs no explanation that his mother loves him: he has seen it with his own eyes. If she did not love him, she would not warn him. She may keep it away from him, but unless he sees the flames, understands that they are dangerous, then he will eventually find them. And the burns would be much worse.
If I say "I love you", it means that I am reminding myself of it. I say it as much for myself as I do for you. If I need such a reminder, then so might you. And if you need to be reminded that I love you, perhaps I do not love you as much as I say.
But if I show you that I love you, if I come to your aid when needed, then you need no reminder that I care. You see it with your own eyes and know it for the truth. When I give you my time, you have a part of my life that is yours as much as mine. What a beautiful thing that is. A moment shared that we two may remember for ever and ever.
Love is living with each other when we are needed. It is sharing the pain and sorrow. It is dancing together at the joys. Love is knowing that when you laugh, I laugh with you, and when you cry, so, too, do I. Words do little to explain what can so well be explained with a simple embrace.
If I say "I love you", what can that possibly explain. But when I give you advice, even hard advice, you know I want you to succeed.Sometimes the best things to say hurt. Sometimes "I love you" sounds a lot like "No".
But if I truly love you, I will guide you away from those things I know you will not like. I will pull you away from the mistakes I may have made, as a mother pulls her son from the fire. If I train you with sword, I will show you where not to hold your sword, even as I show you where to keep it, so that the only blade that may strike you is my own, and that the flat of the blade, that the pain is small and not damaging. So, too, if I train you with foods. I will show you all there is to eat, and tell you what not to eat. If you eat this plant, you will enjoy yourself, and it will taste good. But if you eat that one, then there will be pain as its poison runs its course through your body. So I say, "Eat this plant, but do not eat that one." Then you know that I love you, because though I may hurt you a little, I will not hurt you when I can avoid doing so.
Love is saving you from yourself when you decide to travel down the wrong path. If I see the cliff as you are to step off, I will tell you not to continue. I may even force you away from the cliff. You may resent being pushed, but better you resent me for the moments before you realize how close you were to falling, than when you resent me when you learn after the fall that I saw what was about to happen and did nothing. There are times when I must let you fall, but there are more times when I must save you the fall. For most falls have little but pain at their end.
If I say "I love you", Danyll, know that it is true. But do not know it because I said it. Know it because I have shown you that love a hundred times a day. Know it because you have seen the truth of it with those eyes of yours.
Know that I love you simply because I do love you.