Geez, will I never quit having to turn away from the world's ubiquitous point of view? Here's another thought along the line of my Arguing with Lyrics thread a few months ago:
Among the most harmful (for me) books I ever read was David Copperfield. Sensing a void in my literary background, I picked it up in my twenties and, yes, it's definitely a classic of English literature. However, it had the unhealthy side effect of reinforcing my wrong judgment of my bride for years thereafter. Eventually I came to understand just how inaccurate, unreasonable, and unfair it was for me to think of Teri as my Dora, or to be looking ahead to some day when I could finally be with my Anne, whoever that might prove to be. I can't help but believe that this excellent book has misinformed many other readers' judgments of their relationships, as well.
A few months ago I got hooked on a storyline in the comic 9 Chickweed Lane, which now twists in a direction I just have to turn away from for very similar reasons. (And yes, I know this is nothing more than a comic soap opera.)
"Maybe when we're 80," someone once suggested to me, but I've long since rejected that false hope. Setting aside the issue of my subsequent history, there is no way I could be the husband I'm supposed to be - the husband I want to be - or nurture the sort of marriage that Teri and I might have together, if I were longing for a someday with someone else, even one still decades off, as it once was for the now elderly characters in this storyline.
My bride is the treasure of my life, and I must be on guard against the influence of diversions which would misdirect my thoughts, tempting me to not value her appropriately.
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