I just finished watching Episode 5 of Hana Yori Dango 2, and I must say there’s no one quite as honest and transparent as Tsukushi’s younger brother, Makino Susumu. The scene where he runs to Domyouji and tearfully reveals the rejected love letter still in his hands is UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL. You just have to believe “eraser girl” is his first love, and unfortunately, it didn’t go quite as well as hoped.

What really got me, though, is the familiarity of the feeling.

Rejection, regardless of the reason, always stings — especially when you put your entirety on the line.

I’ve never really been in a situation similar to Susumu, but the feeling of defeat and bitterness is something I’m clearly familiar with. Rejection sucks, however which way you look at it, and frankly, I’ve been on the bitter end of this saga many times before.

It never ceases to amaze me, the way human beings keep picking themselves up after a fall. It’s like we’re addicted to this Sisyphean cycle of pain or something. We keep putting ourselves in danger of complete destruction, reel from the terrible blow of defeat then continue living like nothing ever happened.

Sometimes, when you picture the probability of absolute defeat in your head, there’s this feeling that you’ll never live it down. Somehow you just “know” that a resulting catastrophe would be the end of you and that the universe will come crashing down as well.

But come total destruction and you find yourself bloodied but still alive. Somehow, human beings find a way to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and wipe off those bitter tears after a crushing blow.

Love, in particular, can be rather trying. Love requires you to put everything valuable in your life on the line. Pride, dignity, general well-being and your mental stability are at stake. As a friend once said, if you’re going to humiliate yourself, might as well do it for love.

If anything, I’d hope for nothing more than Susumu’s courage — when the time comes.

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I passed JLPT 4! Woohoo!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 10:03 pm and is filed under relationships, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.