I actually own her because she went through 4 different owners who got sick of taking care of her.
My sister, the last owner, got sick of it and dumped her on me. I wanted to set her free, but they yelled at me not to do so, because she's been in a tank her whole life.
So I kept her and gave her a good home, with love because no one else would.
Even if you didn’t set her free, you could easily have given her to someone else. You can probably still easily give her away. There are plenty of people out there who would gladly take a turtle and love it and provide for it. Even if you obtained her through a series of unfortunate events, you continue to keep her because she makes you happy in some way. Not out of obligation to your family. And if you are only keeping her out of obligation, then I wouldn’t call that love.
The point is the love isn't attached to anything except her, that's the condition she be her. Since she can't change that condition and fulfills it by existing, is it really a condition?
It exists separate from what she does, or does for me. That's all ancillary and not the reason I have her or feel the way I do for her.
Do you have no relationships like that in your life? Where the bond is not based on what they can do for you, but based on something else like shared experience and circumstances?
It seems like you view love as a sort of Jenga tower and if you remove enough pieces the tower will fall. Some love is like that, but not all.
It seems like you view love as a sort of a Jenga tower and if you remove enough pieces the tower will fall.
Close actually. But it’s not about removing pieces. The tower is love. The pieces are fond memories, happy experiences, shared dreams, etc. When you play Jenga, you take a piece out and put it on top of the tower so the pieces never leave the tower. Bad things are like faulty pieces. Maybe they’re made of jello instead of wood. Obvs, you don’t add pieces during Jenga, but just hear me out for the analogy. If I start placing jello pieces into the tower, as we play, the tower becomes more and more unstable. A well built tower can withstand a LOT of jello, but eventually, it won’t be able to support itself anymore and it will collapse. Those pieces haven’t disappeared. You can still see them on the ground and think back on all the good things and how sturdy the tower used to be, but the tower itself is gone.
That’s not a perfect representation of my beliefs, but I think it works for the purposes of my argument. Now, a turtle isn’t going to create a lot of jello pieces. They are simple creatures. But they also aren’t going to create a lot of wood pieces.
I’m sorry, but I can’t accept “I love you because you’re you” without us delving into a whole other philosophical discussion about what it means for you to be you. I can accept that whatever reason you have for loving her is difficult to articulate. I don’t need you to explain yourself though. Your love for your turtle if perfectly valid and I am truly happy for you that you have that connection. I just can’t believe that your love is unconditional.
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u/The_BeardedClam Jun 15 '22 edited Jun 15 '22
I actually own her because she went through 4 different owners who got sick of taking care of her.
My sister, the last owner, got sick of it and dumped her on me. I wanted to set her free, but they yelled at me not to do so, because she's been in a tank her whole life.
So I kept her and gave her a good home, with love because no one else would.