National Crush Day (9/27)

"Love is like oxygen" (The Sweet)

Why would we have a day to celebrate crushes? Some say these are literal. We crush cans. We recycle. If we're smart, we pre-cycle (plan ahead about what will become of the waste) and use banana leaves instead of plastic plates or big rolls of seaweed instead of those maddening packaged ones in individual wrappers where the container weighs more than the contents. Of course, we all know what a crush is. And we should know it isn't harmless. Mara Devaputra (Kamadeva, Eros, Cupid) delights. It hurts pining, waxing, wishing, hoping, wondering, casting our hearts like lures into the sea to see if anything is biting. Those bites won't much matter. There's just the One who either got away or was never caught. And we idealize. We weave a fantasy that becomes a petard. We're hoisted by our own petard. We grow tendrils and then cry when the mass of vines grows so heavy it tears off the fence or pole. Oh, the hole! In our hearts, there are many spaces, but in all the space, there's only you. You send me, Crush. Woe upon us. If only, if only there were a way to snap out of it. If only there were a way to be mindful of the moment instead. This moment I'm free, I'm fine, everything's good -- ah, to be there. Where? Here. When? Now. Be here now? Yes. But Woo Deng is soo deng cuuuute!