A response to: Would You Die for Love? By msgivings

One of my favorite short stories is called “Romeo and Juliet” by Czech author Carel Chapek. In this story, an Englishman, traveling in the 16th century through Italy, was caught by a strong rain near Verona. He gets a shelter in a nearby monastery invited by an old abbot.    

The Englishman mentions that in England they call Verona the city of Romeo and Juliet. When this strange name surprises the old abbot, the Englishman adds that it was in the honor of Juliette Capulet. Hearing this name the old abbot exclaims that he knew Juliette Capulet and even was baptizing several of her children. The Englishman objected that this couldn’t be possible because Juliette Capulet died when she was a teenager under the most tragic circumstances, because of her strong love for Romeo Montague. Now the old padre objected. He said that rich Capulet family would never give away the beautiful and righteous Juliet for someone like Romeo Montague. It’s true that there was some sort of obscure incident between them when they were very young, but then such Romeo who was a well-known idler and rakehell had many such stories with many local girls. After that incident, he had to run away from Verona and never came back. But Juliette marries a rich and respectable Paris, a nice young man from a very respectable family. They had the most beautiful wedding and the now old padre remembered it, even though at that time he was but a boy. At this moment the Englishman interrupted the old padre saying that in Shakespeare play everything was so much more beautiful because Romeo and Juliet both die because of a great love between them. To that, the old padre still retorted “What was so beautiful if they both die? In my story, Juliet and Paris both lived and had six beautiful children together.”    

This beautiful story shows the difference between the imagination of a writer and reality. A writer takes the situation to the very limit. Maybe at the time of their first most powerful feeling both Romeo and Juliet indeed were ready to die. There are known cases when teenagers brought to hospital emergencies with slit wrists caused by the unlucky love experience. However, such instances are relatively rare. If this impulse is caught in the right moment and counteracted, the young person gets back to her senses and continued to live and be available love again.    

As far as dying for another person we should how a thing like these are handled in nature.

In this video you can see how mother cougar defends her cub against a much larger Grizzly bear. However, she’d never jeopardize her life for a mating partner. 

In the following video, you can see two male lions are fighting over a lioness.

You can also see lions fighting over territory, which in turn is none else but defending the rights of their descendants for survival. Yet, I’d never seen a video where a male lion would die for his “love” in the sense of chivalry.    

In general, I agree with someone’s comment that until this thing happens you will never know what you are actually capable of in a situation of life and death. Much of your decision would depend on the stakes involved. Often not love to a person of the opposite sex, but the religious or ideological conviction leads a person to give his life for a higher goal.