Playing the Game

Love; the simplest word to define, but the hardest to find the meaning. People seem to throw the word around like a ball, waiting for someone to come along and pass it back. Giving signs of affection to people they may barely know, maybe not even by name. But what happens when the ball never seems to come back? When it misses? When it pops? When it gets too dirty to even touch? Someone comes along picks it up and just rubs the dirt away, good as new. They can play again, taking the chance, careful not to pop it again. Then there are people who just keep on throwing it, searching for a person who’ll stay to keep on playing. Trying not to remember all the small broken patches they worked so hard to fix. Another kind of person comes along, a kind of person who seems just fine tossing it into the air and catching it themselves, waiting for someone to come along and take the ball, to take the initiative of playing the real game. Some put the ball away, to afraid to even play, to get hurt. Now the real question is, which one are you?