Why does love make us act foolish?

‘Love is a euphoric complexity of emotions,

Solely used as an excuse by any individual

 Who has amania for acting foolish

Suffice it to say, this state of mind is solely by choice’

                       -Shy@ thirteen

As a teenager I fell in love with literature, the dictionary and the Arts...oh yeah! I thought I heard you ask ‘what about fashion?’ nah, there were more intriguing issues like this ‘LOVE’ thingy that most teenage boys often mentioned each time they hung around the prettiest girls in class and adults explained it away with these exact choice of words-‘who ever told you that ,wants to ruin your life young lady!’

 So...ooo ... why were hampers attached to white teddies holding foamy red hearts declaring undying love exchanged openly during valentine and hey! What was pimple face Paul, the head boy up to, when he passed a sealed scented envelope with hearts all over, to my friend Good-luck, she later told me in that airy voice of hers that she’d cherish his poems and love letters forever, I thought she looked pathetic continuously drooling over her premature plans of a fairy tale wedding and I found her search for the right  names for her children too far-fetched for her age but Tina explained it away...’awww she kinda has stars in her eyes,... indeed! When we graduated from high school it later became a usual joke to ask Good-luck, if she was drunk through school to have dated pimple faced Paul?

 Whatever it was, I found a worth-while explanation for ‘love’ back then in the pages of the popular Mill and Boons or a silhouette romance novelette and thanks to pacesetter! Can anyone remember those collections of non-fiction novels written by notable African authors? ( I remember Tina ,described them as love, kill –joys) at least they were closer to reality for reminding readers that not all romance stories ended happily ever after...lol... my favourites then were titled ‘Ebvu my love’ by Helen Aiyeohusa Ovbiagele ,’Sisi’, ‘Rich girl-Poor boy’ and lastly ‘undesirable element’ by Sule Mohammed . So finally Yours truly came up with a lasting definition of hers for this elusive thingy called ‘love’ and it was cold enough to pull the scales of my eyes, drive the boys up the wall  and earn me the name ’ice-queen’ and Iron lady when I later bagged a prefect badge.

Well back then, I thought it better to be sane than find myself acting the fool. I was tired of watching my intelligent friends go over these same motions over and over again...AKA

·         drooling over a young man, clenching on ‘he love me’ -‘he love me not’ cards

·         finding unreasonable reasons to call again, if he/she doesn’t call right back

·          Scheme to run into him or her outside offices and class rooms by designed ‘accidents’.

·         Feigning headaches so they’d get kissed or worse still a bad cold or malaria fever so they’d get him or her alone in a room with them!

·         And if you’re loads like me (as I later found out)Trying by sheer force of will and cold reasoning to  (unsuccessfully)purge yourself of your idiocy after all such a stunt like  allowing your boyfriend kiss you on the highway in the full glare of passing motorist isn’t something you’d congratulate another person for -fine! I know I can be a prude but people I am a shy person.

And while you are at it, there is  always this nagging fear behind you reminding you that you had better play it cool this time  or you’d have made a fool of yourself again – worse still for individuals (like me) who often than not apply the ‘reasonable man’s test’ to my actions all the time!

 Fact is, it’s not often possible to stop yourself doing dumb, dumber and crazy things when you’ve fallen hard for another...(lol)... the most recent symptom is chatting with the person all day to the exclusion of all others-thank God for the internet we need not day dream much. Last night a friend of mine gave me a gist about  a medical doctor’s choice of marriage  and people it was funny cause this lady’s choice of a crazy layabout as a husband is because he makes her laugh!- I could understand it for some personal reasons but he couldn’t ...lol

So people! ... People!  Against this gist as a back drop, can you give me a reasonable conclusion for why the most intelligent and smartest people act foolish when they are in love?

Hoping to hear from you,

As always

Your gist mate,

Shy