Cc Every Girl That You See See 'Round Town...

Most of us have a singular goal in this lifetime (whether we'd like to admit it or not): to find a love that can make you determine that your life was truly worth living.  I mean, if you think about life in the terms of the day to day madness, it seems to be an itemized list of problems: bills, stress, bills, work, bills, traffic, etc.  But, somehow, love allows us to multiply the negatives and create a positive.

We are surrounded by testimonies of love's potency and potential.  Our movies, television and music are permeated with the tales of those on the quest to find, preserve or regain love.  But why?  For every tale of a love that lasted forever, there are at least 5 tragedies of a love whose roots would not take.  The odds are against us.  Humans are not biologically wired to mate for life.  There are twice as many women as men.  There's a 50% chance you'll get divorced...that is if your even lucky enough to find a partner to commit to AND who is willing to commit to you.  This is why those that search for love openly are deemed crazy.  And frankly, they are.

On paper, love makes no sense.  But in life, love makes all the difference.  It can be the difference between something as simple as someone having a good day or something as major as someone deciding to take their own life.  Though its effects are seen, they aren't quantifiable, which is why we all want it.  We want to have it and feel its effects.  But at the same time we want to dissect it; diagnose it; harness it; bend it to our will.  The only way we can attempt these is to, first, have it in our possession. 

The title of this blog is, as many of you have figured out, from Andre 3000's verse on the song International Playa's Anthem.  His is the story of a man that has found that love we all search for...or so he thinks.  His friend takes this opportunity to drop some last minute advice on him:

I know you ain't a pimp, but pimp, remember what I taught you

Keep yo' heart, 3 stacks, Keep yo heart

I'm guessing this friend is a player of sorts; one who operates under the ideology that the only way to make it out alive is to keep your heart under wraps. They wont let these women get too close for fear that they will do the inevitable and destroy the man from the inside.  But the question remains: How happy could a person possibly be living by those limitations?  How could you ever reach for the sky, and yet give yourself such a low ceiling?

I've never met a truly happy player.  All of them have a story about the one that got away; a tale of love lost (often by their own deceit) can scar a man for life.  3000's friend mistakenly believes that he is keeping his heart by holding it hostage, when in actuality he is killing it by prevent it from serving its purpose: loving.  I would argue that the only way to truly keep one's heart is to give it away to the one you love.  There is no guarantee that you wont be hurt, but I can promise you will not ask, "What if?"

"Keep yo heart"...