Love and happiness aren't for everyone

I recently ran across a blog post (not a recent one) complaining about the show "Down Home with the Neely's" on Food Network.  The author seemed to feel the Neely's were just too affectionate with one another with all their pet names and lovey-dovey banter ever so sweetly delivered with the cutest southern drawl.  The writer even said they were "not quite food porn" but might be a little too hot for TV.  When I went to search for the blog again, I ran across some message boards with similar comments. 

A scowl made its way to my face as I read the blog.  I can truly say it's not because I'm a die-hard fan of the Neely's.  While I have seen the show a few times, I don't even have cable.  So, I'm certainly not an avid fan.  The author suggested all their affection was a bit much for the Food Network and the powers that be might want to slap a PG rating on the show.  Really?  Really!

Have we become so stiff, unloving, cold, rigid and down right prudish?  I really hope not.  I hope that most of the people who read that blog (if anyone else did) disagreed with it as fervently as I did.  Yes, I know we must keep salacious sex and violence away from the kiddies and educate them on the dangers of unprotected sex, sex before marriage, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.  But this is a happily married couple (or at least they appear to be) showing their love and affection for each other.  There's no nudity or profanity involved.  Even the most religious, rigid rule-followers shouldn't object to that.  Yet, we have no problem with gratuitous violence in movies and even on TV or even sending the kids off to see those movies.  There's a reason some people are so uncomfortable with love and affection and more comfortable with violence and drama.

This is how all husbands and wives should behave in front of their children so they will know what love looks like.  Children imitate what they are shown. They learn what their parents teach them.  If we teach them love is a piece of paper that says we're married and give each other gifts on major holidays but don't show affection toward each other, that's a mighty dysfunctional lesson to pass on.  Sounds like some major hating going on to me- especially when all the high-tech televisions nowadays make it so easy to change the channel. 

Maybe it's not the affectionate behavior of the Neely's that really bothered the blogger but rather the Neely's themselves (as opposed to if it had been Paula Deen and her husband).  But that is another topic and post altogether.
Anyway, I choose to embrace love rather than hate on it.  I embrace what I embody and what I desire.