a b c a b c a b c

I have already made this post in the past, but it was erroneous and, after having this pointed out to me, I forgot to fix it. Here it is again, with a bonus at the end.

I cannot take any credit for this at all. It belongs to my father.

He told me, many years ago, about the abc system. But he only told me a little bit, allowing me the frustrating freedom to figure the rest out for myself.

Illustration:

Let ‘b’ stand for Joe.

Joe loves Mindy. Mindy does not love Joe. She is his ‘a.’

Joe does not love Jessica. Jessica loves Joe. She is his ‘c.’

It works like a ladder; the rung above you is the person you love, but he/she does not love you back. The rung below you is the person who loves you, but you do not love him/her back.

Sometimes, your a will also be your c, but rarely. This scenario usually ends up in marriage so don’t be looking for it too vehemently.

This is where my father went silent. His words rang true and I understood them well, but it all seemed at least partially obvious.

I told him this. He smiled, arrogantly advising me that I will understand more of it as I grew older.

And, of course, I did.

Some time later, but still years ago, I understood the rest.

It is that your ‘a’ (the rung above you) has his/her own ‘a’ (the rung above him/her).

It is, also, that your ‘c’ (the rung below you) has his/her own ‘c’ (the rung below him/her).I won’t go into the full explanation of all this and how important it is because that would take too long. Suffice it to say that it is interesting to note the relativity of life’s relationships. Remember that the princess who shuns you has a prince who’s shunned her.

Bonus

Once Joe sleeps with (or otherwise conquers) Mindy (his ‘a’), she may lose her aforementioned status. Once her rung has been reached, she can no longer remain a rung above Joe, and if he looks up, there must be another rung above him (not always, but mostly). At this point, the void is filled with the said newly found rung and Joe now has a new ‘a.’

This isn’t pretty or nice.

It just is.