The one that made me cry abit

Without me realizing it, a few years has passed since I first started blogging. From a platform where I write to express my feelings, it has evolved to also become a record of my thoughts at any particular time in my life. I find myself reading my posts from years ago and revisiting my experiences and emotional journeys at the time of those posts.

I quote this extract from “Disappointment with God” by Philip Yancey, because I want to be able to re-read this post years later and recall how I teared when I read this on my flight during my business trip to Bangkok…

“ “Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden.” Begins a story by Kierkegaard.

The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden.

How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body with royal robes, she would surely not resist – no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she left behind. Would she be happy at his side? How could he know?

If he rode to her forest cottage in a royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them.

“For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal,” concluded Kierkegaard. The king, convinced that he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend… he renounced the throne to win her hand.”

Like I said, I teared when I read this. In modern day Singapore context, I’d expect this maiden to be from the heartlands of Choa Chu Kang, frequently dressed in t-shirt & maybe FBT shorts, with hardly ever any makeup and definitely no Louis Vuitton, Coach or even Aldo in her wardrobe, who enjoys her meals at the local hawker centre and doesn’t know her dessert spoon from her soup spoon. I try to think of a guy who’s well-educated, perhaps a CPA or CFA, or someone holding a PHD in Financial Engineering – would such a man fall for Heartland girl? Unlikely, but that is exactly the kind of love depicted in that excerpt. It is not only the love of the king that disregards the difference in status, but that he would give his all for the love of the humble maiden. Imagining a love like this, I can’t help but be touched.