Love and Jealousy

Love and Jealousy

Love is an inexpressible and indescribable feeling. It can affect a person to the point of recklessness. Once a Soul has recognized a counterpart in another, the effects can cause One to surrender themselves completely. Love has a way of making sense out of thin air. Judgment becomes clouded and rationality no longer exists. In the end, all that remains is pure, indefinable emotion. Attempts to capture all the abilities and challenges intertwined within this ruthless emotion take the form of stories, music and movies. For instance, the story, "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot," follows a husband bound by such irrevocable Love for his Wife. After a sudden death the husband’s soul returns in the form of a Parrot, which is later purchased by his Wife. Another example falls into the verses of a song titled, "Best of You," written by the Foo Fighters. Similar to The Parrot, The Artist in the song is also in battle, but with himself. He is hindered by the inability to make rational decisions dealing with the relationship between His Partner and himself. Though, written for different reasons, the context of The Story and the verses of The Song will show how much they differ as much as they stay the same.
The lyrics contained within "Best of You'" are beautiful as well as heart wrenching - a lot like Love. The lines in the first verse summarize a shared dilemma between The Artist of the Song and The Parrot of the Story.

"I've got another confession to make. I'm Your Fool. Everyone's got their chains to break, holding You.."

In this text, The Artist is open with the emotional ties to his Partner. He acknowledges the fact that he is powerless against the Love he holds for her. The lyric portrays the challenges faced in the relationship as the "chains" bounding them together. He is facing an internal delimit though. "... Everyone's got their chains to break..." , signifies that The Artist has to face the pain of living without his Partner. Similar to The Parrot. For The Parrot, his Wife held the center of his universe. In what is referred as the "jealous life," The Parrot (husband then) held so much love for his Wife but jealously won in the end. All suspicions aside, He remained loyal to her. The Parrot carried the relentless issue into his "Parrot Life." The emotional hold of his Wife is shown in Their encounter at the Pet Store. When The Parrot Sees his Wife with his new eyes, he is struck by her beauty. However, he lets his jealously surface First with the male who accompanied His Wife then again with the store clerk trying to sell Her a bird cage. Parrot's actions show how much of a hold his Wife still possesses over him.
As the lyrics continue, the issues linking The Artist and The Parrot become a little darker.

"Is someone getting the best of you... Are you gone and onto someone new?"

The Artist is beginning to question if there is anything left of his relationship to his Partner. He is starting to look within himself to find an alternate answer to the question he already knows. His begins to realize his relationship is "one-sided". The Artist is giving every ounce but he isn't receiving his Partners' "best." As stated earlier, The Parrot always suspected his Wife of infidelity. He had the suspicions but was never able to present evidence to support them. The suspicious thoughts of The Parrot began to consume him. The times when he was certain of his Wife’s unfaithfulness drove the Parrot determine what kind of Man she would be drawn to. The Artist and The Parrot are dealing with a cross road in their relationships. Both men are overcome with an abundance of emotion but are unable to express themselves clearly to their Loves. The next verse takes the challenges to a deeper place within the Characters.

"I needed somewhere to hang my head, without your noose. You gave me something that I didn't have, but had no use. I was too weak to give in, too strong to lose."

This verse in particular portrays the internal battle The Artist is fighting to overcome. He is confined to his feelings. His judgments are constantly shadowed by the reminders of the challenges that come with his Partner. He understands that in order to regain his piece of mind, he has to remove himself from this draining situation. Only after will The Artist be able to reflect on his Partner. He knows the gift that he is steadily receiving is mistrust and disappointment. Time has passed in the Parrots new life. He has become a prisoner in his own mind as well. He begins to remember the feelings from his "jealous life". The Parrot Recalls on the times when the "gut-feelings" turned into soft addictions. When the feelings of suspected infidelity became too much to bear, The Parrot was forced to harbor his seemingly uncontrollable thoughts. He was never able to verbalize the emotions and doubts to his Wife. He couldn't live with the animosity that followed. Often, The Parrot sought refuge in the bathroom. The only place he could collect his thoughts without the judgment from his Wife. The emotional chains he wore was his noose. When he reached the bounds of his thoughts, he took the initiate to locate the Wife’s' suspected mate.
The Artist and The Parrot have faced isolation, loneliness and most importantly the feeling of loss. They have tempered the sting of rejection by throwing themselves into their Counterparts but to no avail. The following lyrics somehow depict the devastation accompanied by the loss.

"..the life, the love, you'd die to heal. The hope that starts the broken heart. You trust, you must confess..."

Perspective can make small things large, and large things small. The Artist is no longer able to sustain the underlying resentment towards his Partner. The big picture has become visible to him and his feelings have shifted. Although, overflowing with love for his Partner, The Artist can no longer defend the pain. He has faced the conflict. The conflict of moving on without his Partner or dying in the depths of false hopes. It is now that The Artist is able to distinguish between holding on to what never was and what possibilities lay ahead in the future. Similarly, In the Parrots' "jealous life," precious time was squandered. Time, in the moment, was a sense of completion but disguised with his Wife’s silver speech. Moments frozen in The Parrots limited memory, have sense been tainted with the acceptance of who his Wife is. The Parrot could never escape the creature dwelling inside- his jealously. After The Parrot came into his new life, he interpreted his encounters with his Wife to satisfy his own needs. Believing if only for a minute, that she still belonged to him. The Parrot, now longs for freedom from this agonizing torture. He knows that he doesn't belong in her world.
After the acknowledgment of the root cause of the problems, The Artist and The Parrot are still in a state of denial that is masked by the unconditional love of their Counterpart. The next lyric in "Best of You," describes the trail of thought that lead to the blindness.

"...Were you born to resist or be abused?.."

The Artist began to find a solution to his internal conflict. He started asking himself what his duty in the relationship with his Partner truly was. The Artist is torn between the pain of ending what he has worked so hard to accomplish or fight for what he loves for the sake of love. He is determining if the payoff is worth the heartache to come. His rationality has become lose due to the constant excuses made to justify his Partners indecency. In the former "jealous life," The Parrot took a different approach. Too often, he turned a blind eye to his Wife’s telling behavior. He could rest in a place of content as long as He didn't connect himself with the other Men who were a part of his Wife. Early on, however, evidence of the Wife’s wandering nature became present in her body language. The Parrot noticed the mindset behind her blank eyes, laughs across a room. He even touched on the distraction in their bed. Lacking evidence But determined, the parrot had come to the conclusion he would stay no matter the obstacles. The turmoil of The Artist and The Parrot thus far, paints a world of isolation. The inability to connect with the Counterpart has left The Artist and The Parrot into reality.

"...My head is giving me life or death, but I can't choose. I swear I'll never give in. I refuse..."

Bound by an unimaginable emotion, The Artist is lingering within a state of truth and deception. The reminder of what his life once was, is now a bottomless void. The Artist has become lost inside his own thoughts. His worst fears are starting to surface. Life with, or without his Partner. The Parrot, has accepted his place in his "New Life." He is still filled with pure, honest love for his Wife. Clearer now, is the reality that his Wife is unattainable. The opportunity of choice wouldn't help. It is time for a sense of closure for The Artist and The Parrot. Both have relied on the power of minimal words to reveal enormous amounts of information- even if was revealed only to them, by them. The set of lyrics that follows summarizes the root problem. This time, however, the feelings that arise are confessions, not excuses.

"...Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel... You trust, you must confess..."

The Artist now identifies the justifications behind his indecisions. He allowed himself to enable his Partner. The emptiness remains with the stains of disappointment and loss of faith. The Artist can accept the pain involved with the loss of his Love only with a sense of failure. The failure of reasoning which left him with the acceptance of his fate. He is choosing to walk away. Only now is he able to trust his decisions. A different state of acceptance has played out for The Parrot. The moment he sees his Wife naked in the Den, the uncontrollable jealously that was once so prominent in The Parrot is replaced. The jealously has made way for unselfish love. Though still beautiful, the Wife's beauty is now a distant memory to the Parrot. In this moment, she seems "plucked" in a sense that that she has lost everything he once cherished. The Parrot feels an undeniable need to protect what She doesn’t see. He concludes that he failed his Wife as much as she failed Him. He knows he was not enough for her. Although he tries to convey his undying love to the Wife, his minute 'spoken vocabulary' will never say what is in his heart. It is this instance The Parrot rather die than live through the torment of this "limbo" state. Never to fully transform.