Cupid and Psyche

So once upon a time, there were three beautiful daughters. Of the three, Psyche was the most beautiful –so beautiful  that she was worshipped as a goddess.  A jealous Venus prompts her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with someone way below her league. But clumsy Cupid pricks himself with his arrow and falls madly in love with Psyche instead.

Time passes and Psyche remains single, although her less attractive sisters had already been married off. Her mother consulted an oracle to see what was the problem. The oracle tells Psyche’s parents that she is destined to be married to some hideous immortal. Psyche’s parents do the right thing and abandon her on a mountain to live out her hideous fate. Her husband wouldn't let her see him, so that was interesting. Psyche then does this trick to see her husband and she seeks him and oh my gosh he really is hot. Cupid gets mad and Venus has Psyche do all this awful stuff to gain back Cupid’s favor and eventually she’s got to go get this box and she’s not supposed to open it but she does and it’s bad but Cupid comes through for her and ultimately things end up well. After all, Psyche becomes a goddess, so she’s pretty much set.

I’m kind of a pessimist when it comes to love stories and whatnot; I don’t really believe in “happily ever afters”—things are usually more complicated than that. But I can appreciate a love story that details the struggles of two people to stay together who ultimately pull through and manage to love each other despite the circumstances; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to the mind. All the same, I think it’s important not to glorify relationships as the end-all-be-all of life; relationships with friends and family can ultimately be more important, as even the most long withstanding romantic relationships can be fickle.