In the short 18 years of my life, I have experienced many emotions: from rudimentary nervous responses such as happiness, sadness and anger to the more philosophical, intellectual ones such as ambivalence, apprehension and elation. Of all these emotions, however, none has been as powerful or strong as love. Not just any love, but love at first sight. I may be a thinker and a leader but first and foremost, I am a romantic. I like to view the world as it should exist, venturing beyond the possible and into the improbable. Love at first sight seems outlandish, impossible and almost too optimistic; it is exactly this uncertainty, optimism and the credibility of its existence that makes love at first sight so desirable. It has been a lover’s myth and for years to come, a playwright’s best friend. It is perhaps the most romantic thing that can happen to anyone: losing your heart to someone within a matter of a few seconds. But the question remains—Was what I felt that summer day on the streets of Barcelona really love at first sight or nothing more than a delusion?
From “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare to Homer and Marge from the Simpsons, love at first sight has been a prominent theme in the world’s arts, literature and history. In the Bible, even, Adam and Eve are said to have fallen in love at first sight. Not only that, but great thinkers of our human race such as Giovanni Boccaccio and even the great Plato have been seen expounding on the beauty of love at first sight. So, is it all just a hoax?
Science tells us otherwise: extensive research done on the characteristics of relationships shows that most people decide what kind of relationship they want within seconds of meeting another person. Intuition plays an important part in the decision making of the human mind. We generally set our minds beforehand on the type of person we should like—black, brown, or fair—and when we meet someone with a complete list of the qualities we desire, the match is made. Just like animals know of a natural disaster hours before it happens, or ants know it will rain hours before it does, when we find that special someone and look into their eyes, you just know that you have found true, eternal love.
Science aside, the sheer beauty of love at first sight itself makes you want to believe it. You are walking down the road one day and your eyes stumble upon her in the crowd. To you, she is all you see. Everything else is just a fuzzy background. Your eyes slowly meet, and in that immeasurable moment, you fall in love. You don’t just fall, you dive into love. Your breath stops, your heart skips a beat, and you just let go. The beauty, the sensation and the magic of the notion of giving yourself to the enchantment of love at first sight makes you want to believe it is true.
Love at first sight must exist, not only because art, history and literature have shown us so, not only because scientific experimentation may prove it so, but most importantly because falling in love in the most unexplainably beautiful way imaginable is the most romantic view of the world and assures us that anything is possible.
At this point in time, you probably think I am either sleep deprived or have been watching too many romantic movies. Whatever it is, I know that one day, when you’re walking down the road, or you’re in the grocery store, or living life like you usually do, it will happen to you. Then, you will see it. You will feel it. You will understand that what you just experienced was not just some romantic delusion or a hot summer’s daydream. What you just saw was indeed what mesmerized even the greatest of minds; the most unexplainable scientific phenomenon, the most romantic and optimistic emotion in life: love at first sight.
