Between Duty and Love

PS: I'm writing this with sleepy eyes.

I was watching the series finale of Game of Thrones a few weeks ago. In episode 6, Tyrion the imp, made two statements that made a lot of sense to me.

Love is the death of Duty.
Duty is also the death of Love.

It's easy to understand. Love beclouds human judgement almost every time. And it's harder to get some important things done when you have to choose between those things and the person/people you love. How would you react to your favourite human?

In that episode, it was about Jon's internal conflict between stopping the one he loved from hurting several others or simply ignoring it. Daenerys wasn't exactly a pushover, she'd turned, and stopping her definitely meant Jon had to take extreme measures.

As you grow, you'll find this scenario very relatable over and over again. You'll find yourself hesitating to judge your friend, or punish a family member for the same crime you would have punished someone else for without batting an eyelid. Test of human passed.

On the other side, you will have problems relating with people or keeping relationships for longer if you've built principles that are too rigid.

Life isn't meant to be black and white. It's got grey areas that are filled with tiny palettes of colours. That's why it's best to reach compromise to get the best deals on both ends.

Duty is the death of Love.

Duty can indeed mean the death of love. In GoT, Jon killed his lover. He did it because he knew he had no other options and it was the right thing to do. Dany was fast becoming a dictator and that threw negotiations and the possible realization of a compromise out the window.

At that point where you've exhausted your options to make things right, you might have to take stringent steps to do the right thing, even if it means hurting the people you claim to love.

Comparing the characters Rob and Jon, you'll find that they chose differently. For Rob, he decided to choose love when duty mattered the most. Jon didn't make that mistake.

You'll live as a better person if you know how and when to choose love over duty and duty over love.

My love and duty guide you.