Love and expectations!

I hear this a lot where people have this opinion that dogs>>>>humans or that animals are better than humans as they don't expect anything in return. I believe this stems from our inability to handle the complexities of human relationships. Humans are also animals, we are social animals. We have tools to express. Words. Emotions.

While it may seem that animals do not expect anything in return, I believe it is not entirely true. They do expect and feel things it's just that they are not able to express it to us in ways we're accustomed to. For instance, if we get a pet and then due to our hectic work schedules we fail to provide them enough time. The pet feels ignored, they feel sad and lonely. However they won't be able to express it clearly. They can't talk.

On the other hand, if we find ourselves into a relationship with another human and make them feel neglected - they will get angry, sad and will express their anger and sadness to us. And we are like : Breaking News -this fellow human has expectations!! I am better off with animals. They are much better than humans.

One other example is of Mother's love. Often, we hold the Mother's love in high regard, considering it the most purest and unconditional form of love. This is true because mothers typically do not expect anything in return for their unconditional love. Despite not always treating our mothers too well they continue to love us unconditionally, forming a habit of forgiveness. Unfortunately, We sometimes expect other forms of love and relationships to mirror this level of selflessness. But isn't that selfish? It completely is!

We need to stop taking our relationships for granted. Be it our mothers, pets or other fellow human beings. Instead of dismissing one form of love over the other just because it doesn't provide us with that flexibility of being selfish we should be putting more effort into understanding the complexities and uniqueness of the relationships we have! Nobody is perfect. We are going to fail. Just. Stop. Dismissing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk! ✌️🤍